Astrianna bites her lip, as it appears the woman is fleeing from Chelix for less than ideal reasons. Sighing, she touches the woman's shoulder and offers her condolences. I'm Astrianna, a Sparacello from Cassomir. You haven't seen me in years, at least. What happened, Marci?"
This woman is useless right now, unfortunately, but she may have some coin or be useful in the future.
The bard looks Marci in the eyes, and tries to calm her down. "Look at me, Marci. You've still got your life, and you had enough coin to get on this ship. You're out of there now- you're free from devils and the idiocy. There will be more parties, and you will re-establish yourself. Our ancestors didn't start with pockets of coin, they earned it. They didn't inherit a mansion, they had it built. Your breeding and advantage in life can put you above the plebeians again, but it's not going to fall in your lap. Dry your tears, pull yourself together, and start talking to these other nobles on board. I'm sure you have a skill or a contact they will find useful. If you don't want to do the hard work yourself, find a man to do it for you."
The woman gathers hers and tries to put on a good face. Her breath is shaky as she inhales. "Y..you...your right. I mean..even your name managed to get you out....certainly my status will get me started." She's not intentionally trying to insult you but it's clear she knows she is well above your nobility station in life. You understand her family's wealth, power, and status trumps is/was at the upper echelon in Cheliax.
Make a perception check.
David considers all the information that he’s seen so far, then he goes about work tending the wounded and making sure that they’re doing alright. As he works, he notices Embrianna helping him and nods at her, smiling at her presence.
"Well, this voyage has started off interesting. I wonder if things will quiet down as we sail farther out from Cheliax?"
As he begins to gather the bloody clothes into a heap, he watches her thoughtfully.
”I don’t know…” he muses slowly.
”But I will say this... when we skipped out fast from the port the captain ordered False Colors," he says, looking up at her.
"You know – in a lot of nations using False Colors is a Capital Offense… I’d be hard pressed to think that a nation like Cheliax with all their gods damned rules and regulations would be one of the types that are slack on that law…” he adds.
”Not to mention the fact that the captain acted on it pretty fast, you know? I mean – he’s hauling up a Cheliaxian flag quick as can be as soon as they’re coming; like he was ready for it, and making his move.”
"That's pretty ballsy for a guy to use that trick with Cheliaxian folk over them wanting to check out what we're hauling is all; why go through the trouble for a bunch of refuges, you know?"
He takes the bloodied clothes and puts them in a barrel and pours boiled water on them, doing what he can to stifle any disease that could be left on them and frowns.
”When I did my last run with those lads out of Varisia the skipper on that ship had a bunch of flags in his hold – you know; flags from Magnimar, Cheliax and some provinces out of Rahadoum… Didn’t do a lot of fighting, though – he had them around mainly to avoid patrols so he could move gear faster, you know – when we did work around the west end of Cheliax the skipper was always keen to avoid – shall we say – any “Imperial Entanglements”, you know?” he adds with a dry grin.
”Anyhow, I just thought it was pretty odd that the captain on this ship was all ready for action…” he says looking at Embrianna.
Pausing, he hands her a drink, if she’s thirsty.
His eyes widen suddenly, and he snaps his fingers.
”Hey – you know what else I just realized?” he says to her.
”That little whore of a sloop had at least one siege engine I could see direct, it may have had more, but then again, it may not... Still, I'm thinking that if she was trying to sink us outright – why the hell didn’t she fire ballista bolts at our ship? I mean, why take the chance throwing grapples and boarding another vessel when she could have fired alchemist fire into our sails and bolts into our hull and crippled us and then move in fast and demand a surrender, you know?”
He looks up at Embrianna thoughtfully.
”Unless maybe they didn’t want to damage what we’re carrying…”
He scratches his chin absently.
”But then that begs the question – what the hell are we carrying?” he says slowly.
Then he goes back to work on the clothing, then he pauses to look up at her.
”Oh – by the way – thanks again for helping me down here. I really appreciate it, you know? You’re a good friend,” he says, his gray eyes looking into hers.
When the work is done Embrianna takes her leave and David continues to do what he can to square away the place that houses the ship's medical supplies.
After a short time, Embrianna returns -
Embrianna will nod and thank the cabin as she takes her leave. She will go around, hunting down all those that came aboard with her, repeating what the Captain said. Though it may take a while to track down Astri, Bri manages to do so before the 4 hours are up.
He nods.
"Alright - I guess I'll be up in the four hours and find out what's up."
You note two guards are wearing to separate house colors. One is wearing House Arvanxi, one of the major nobles of families of Westcrown. The mayor or former mayor's house.
The second is wearing house Ghivel, a lesser but pious family beholden to a well positioned family. Which family...you don't recall off hand.
Both wearing weapons and gear of substantial value and each look like they know how to use the weapons. You do find it odd they were not on deck during the battle.
You spot a well known opera and theater star, Calseneica.
The gossip and spa owner, Lady Elmira Pennington, is aboard.
Darius continues working on the deck of the ship, looking on at the riggers with envy. Patience, man, patience. You know damn well the captain isn't going to trust newcomers to the rigging work just yet.
As he passes by Adriel, he says in passing, "Well, just how big of a bounty you think the Chelaxians are going to put out for this ship's flag? They generally don't take kindly to being thwarted so easily."
As the sun beats down on him, Darius removes his cloak and shirt and stores them along with his glaive inside the pocket of his magical pack, then, if Adriel is willing, tosses his pack and breastplate alongside the elf's gear.
"Though, I doubt they'll have an easy time collecting that purse. I have a feeling our captain is accustomed to this sort of thing."
With hours to kill before the captain formally needs the crew, David will track down the man Darius and speak to him quietly. For now he has limited knowledge about the crew in general and is also currently suspicious of the captain’s true intentions.
So, with very limited knowledge on the rest of those he has met on the shore; knowing only that some of them preferred secrets and that many of them seemed to be very cagey about information, or even attempts at camaraderie, he decides to approach Darius directly but covertly.
For a moment he considers talking about this with Embrianna as well as she had also been fairly direct and friendly with him; but does not want to get her involved with any strange plot or conspiracy that could endanger her until he knows more information.
”Oye! So I remember you saying that you were a local here before,” he says slowly.
”Well in the clean-up now I’ve been looking around and I noticed that there was a few lads who were wearing House Colors…” he adds, then glances around.
”One of them had colors for House Arvanxi, the other had the colors for House Ghivel.”
”They looked like mean sons o’ biches, and well armed, too… But after all that talk I did to rally the lads and even asked the captain to see if we couldn’t get some extra men on deck, you know what? They were down below – maybe they suddenly lost their balls when the battle started, or maybe they were down there trying to protect something, you know?” he says to Darius.
”Oh yeah,” he adds ”I saw this singer below, too – name of Calseneica… You know her?” he asks Darius.
Looking around he adds one more thing –
”Finally I noticed this lass by name of Lady Elmira Pennington below,” he adds.
He leans back and studies the Chelaxian native.
”Now you’re native to this place, you know the people better then I do, that’s for damn sure – but I got a hunch that maybe some of the folk below in a recently deposed town will draw the attention or ire of invading troops… Maybe those Imperials wanted one of them that I mentioned…”
”Now I’m no expert in what we got; so far it’s all hunches – but for better or worse we just beat down an Imperial ship. That alone is cause for trouble… but if we’re hauling folk that’ve got the Imps attention… Hell, I don’t probably have to tell you – but there’s enough Divination spells to find our ship, especially if we’re hauling someone with a name that they can add to their conjuring…”
He shakes his head.
”Thing is, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what we got, or how to play it – but you did say you’re a native to that place. So I figure out of everyone that maybe you got the most information on what to do next, or the best guess?”
He glances around, making sure that no one is listening in.
”I’d tell the other lot, but I don’t want to spread dangerous news until I know what’s up about it – plus, well – I don’t know them too well. You seem pretty decent; and that lass Embrianna seems alright – but as for the others? I just don’t know yet…”
He looks at Darius.
”Well – any ideas?” he asks.
Taking a more serious tone, he adds, "Look, first thing you gotta realize is that I've been out of the loop in that country for years, and didn't give two shits about the politics before that. However, I'm going to wager that if there are nobles below willing to give up everything just to get out of there, I'd bet you my left nut that they are doing it because their fate would be far worse if they got captured. And you know I mean it because lefty's my favorite!"
He throws a few more coils of rope in front of them and continues, "I guarantee you this ship has got a bounty on it now, just for throttling the navy so. If it's hauling precious cargo to the Imp's, it'll be even bigger of a prize. But I figure that our captain is accustomed to this sort of thing, and if we do our part, we should be able to steer clear of those devils."
Before Hawkins can leave, he looks him dead in the eye and adds, "And you were right in being careful about who you talk to about this, and if you want my advice, you won't speak anymore of it at all, savvy?"
"Oh, the raven haired beauty is more than alright friend. Ha!"
David catches a coil of rope and rolls his eyes.
"Alright, alright," he says holding up his hand, laughing a bit uncomfortably "yeah, she's a fine looking lass, I'll grant you, but I've been chatting with her - the thing is, well... She's good people is all I'm saying."
Then he clears throat and listens to Darius continue.
"I guarantee you this ship has got a bounty on it now, just for throttling the navy so. If it's hauling precious cargo to the Imp's, it'll be even bigger of a prize. But I figure that our captain is accustomed to this sort of thing, and if we do our part, we should be able to steer clear of those devils."
As he bunches the cable into a neat stack and moves to the next coil of rope David nods.
"Aye... I reckoned that much myself..." he says slowly.
"That being the case, well... we got no ties to this ship other than passage out of town... If Imps are hunting them hard, is it worth sticking around on board if we get to a safe harbor?" he queries, curious to know what Darius would think.
"I mean, hell - we aren't a formal part of the crew anyhow, just passengers. I'm not saying hop overboard and swim for it right now, but - I don't know - maybe it's worth considering if we got a serious problem on our ass, you know what I mean?"
"And you were right in being careful about who you talk to about this, and if you want my advice, you won't speak anymore of it at all, savvy?"
David just rolls his eyes and snorts.
"Hey - you don't got to get your knickers in a bunch on my count, chief," he says.
"I mean, I came to you private-like on account of the fact that you've been square so far and I figured I could trust you; but you don't got to warn me about blabbing to the whole ship - hell, I know how to keep my mouth shut," he says a little dryly.
Then he decides to change the subject as he offers Darius another smoke, if the man wants it.
"Meantime, what do you think of this captain's meeting we got to go? You got any thoughts on it?" he says a bit louder, but keeping it quiet until he knows what Darius thinks of discussing that information more publicly.
Astrianna smiles at the woman, her face unchanging in the face of her words. My name has long stopped bringing me comfort- I bring that to myself, now.
"Exactly. You already have your start- there will be many here that will want to do you favors. In fact, I saw the patriarch of the Cemaine family earlier... his name escapes me, but I recognized his house and entourage. I don't know how your relations are with the Julistarcs, and by extension the Cemaine's, but if they're starting anew they could be looking for allies."
"I mean, hell - we aren't a formal part of the crew anyhow, just passengers. I'm not saying hop overboard and swim for it right now, but - I don't know - maybe it's worth considering if we got a serious problem on our ass, you know what I mean?"
"That's always an option, we aren't obligated to this ship in any way. But I've been aboard this sort of ship before, and I figure I will just see where exactly we're headed before I decide."
Taking the offered smoke, Darius answers Hawkins' last question, "I figure he'll be giving us our assignments on board, as well as anything else he feels like letting us in on."
"That's always an option, we aren't obligated to this ship in any way. But I've been aboard this sort of ship before, and I figure I will just see where exactly we're headed before I decide."
David nods, thinking a moment.
"Aye - they seem to got their act together on this rig, for the most part, I'll grant you that - but in the meantime we got a lot of people on board that'll need offloading at some point. Who knows where that point is going to be? Anyhow, it's just a thought - but yeah, I reckon we can keep our eyes open before we make that call," he adds.
"You think the captain has anything in particular to ask us?"
"I figure he'll be giving us our assignments on board, as well as anything else he feels like letting us in on."
He nods, blowing a stream of smoke into the lee of the wind.
"That sounds fair - I think our lot was the only one that really pitched in during that fight anyhow - so who knows? Maybe he's looking for a few good lads on his ship. But yeah, I guess maybe it'd be better to hear what he's got to say first."
"Hell, if his terms are good enough, then maybe it ain't worth hopping off at the next harbor anyhow, you know?" he says with a shrug.
"But I guess we'll just have to find out when he invites us to chat."
You know Marci comes from great wealth, but you also know she is not in one of those guarded cabins. Whoever is in those cabins greatly outrank the mayor's family. She doesn't respond to your comments about the other nobles on board. She actually calms up. "I'm tired, I wanst to sleep a bit."
One thing that is clear to everyone on the ship, this merchant vessel may not have the siege weapons for battle with another ship but it does have skilled tactics for repelling boarders and close combat. Astri this rings home with you especially, when reflecting on the words you had with the first mate before battle, where he said they've seen some close battles, but the captain has guided them through it.
Nodding at the woman, Astrianna prepares to take her leave. "Sleep well. I'm going to find something to do."
Walking away, the half-elf rubs her brow for a few moments. Who are in those cabins? I'm not going to ask the guards, that's stupid, and any magical disguise might be noticed by that spellcaster. Hm.. if I disguise myself as a servant and mingle with the plebs...
Embrianna finds Astrianna as soon as she goes down into the hold- there aren't many still wearing their cloak wet cloak below deck, and the woman is simply standing there, lost in thought.
She looks up as Embri approaches her, nodding to the woman. "Oh, hello. I think I heard the elf call you Rose? I suspect that's not your real name, considering he calls me Songbird."
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Embrianna gives a little laugh at Astrianna's question. "No, my real name is Embrianna, Bri for short. I think the elf is just the type who likes to give out romantic sounding nicknames."
She looks around for a second to ensure that the menfolk aren't about. "I think men assume we are supposed to be flattered by such names and attention. Though all it does is save them the trouble of actually learning what are names are and using them correctly."
Everyone gathers about a half bell before the designated hour. You have some time to share if you choose.
There is beautiful woman standing mid-ship chatting with the first mate, he shakes his head back and forth, laughs a bit. Her hand is tracing of the intricate tattoos that the man proudly displays on his chest. A few of you caught a glimpse of him in battle and you noticed he was deadly with his cutlass and wickedly jagged dagger; there was one point where he seemed to loose control in blood lust when the captain was nicked by the enemy.
David's eyes narrow, he recognizes the woman instantly.
Turning to Darius he nudges him - indicating that this was indeed the Lady Pennington that he had mentioned earlier; though - based on Darius's suggestion - he doesn't say anything about her aloud in public.
When he sees the others come up, he tips forelock at Embrianna and studies the others with her thoughtfully.
Embrianna nods and smiles at Dirk in return for his little tip of the forelock.
You hear, "Enter!" After you knock on the captain's door.
He is sitting at his desk with his back to you when you enter the nicely - but not extravagant quarters - he turns around to you. He packs a long pipe, there is already a sandalwood smell to the room, and he strike the flint and tinder. His pipes pucker as the smoke bellows. "Aye...yes...my passengers and crew." He looks at Sawbones and Eyes when he mentions crew. "Actually, Sawbones didn't you vouch for each of them as crew...or was that you Eyes?"
He tosses the pouch of tobacco to Sawbones.
Embrianna nods and smiles at Dirk in return for his little tip of the forelock.
Easing away from Darius, he walks over to Embrianna.
"Hey!" he says, seeing her.
"How's things going?" he says with a somewhat loud voice, but as he reaches her, he lowers his voice.
"Everything okay below?" he says quietly.
"I talked to Darius over there, keeping our eyes peeled; there's some strange customers aboard... Just saying, be careful, you know?" he says to her with a wide smile but keeps his words quiet so no one overhears or guesses his intentions.
He peers at Emmy and grins at the little snake. Then he stands up and moves back to give her some space after he shared the information as discretely as he could.
"Actually, Sawbones didn't you vouch for each of them as crew...or was that you Eyes?"
He tosses the pouch of tobacco to Sawbones.
David catches the pouch deftly and places it in his jacket.
"Aye, sir. Nothing but good things to say, as you know."
"And, as you've already seen so far, they've been nothing but skilled sailors and in addition to that they've all proved to be loyal and very effective during the recent skirmish with those pirates. What more could any captain ask for?" he says with a friendly voice.
He glances around the captain's ready room.
"Begging your pardon, sir - what is this all about?" he asks politely about the meeting.
Darius puts his shirt back on before the meeting, though he leaves it hanging loose until just before entering the captain's chambers. He stands at proper attention during the meeting.
Astrianna barks a laugh at her observation, grinning and nodding her head. She walks with the woman back to the deck. "The men we have with us certainly aren't shy about their interest or boasting about their skills, are they? Tonight I aim to flirt a bit, talk them into a game of One-and-Thirty or Hazard, and make one of them bet their assigned hammock to me. When I win, I'll be sleeping comfortable tonight- I don't plan on double bunking."
Entering the cabin with the rest of the people invited, Astrianna breathes the sweet pipe smoke in briefly. She enjoyed a smoke now and then, but preferred the sweeter cherry varieties. A thin eyebrow shoots up at the mention of someone else assigning her as crew. "I told your plankman that I'd sing for the crew every evening when I paid to get onboard, but I don't remember agreeing to be official crew...unless that counts as my duties." While she doesn't really want to backtalk the captain, she doesn't want to get stuck peeling tubers all day either.
"In my 56 years...most at sea, I've never smoke better pipe tobacco then that from the Razor."
He eyes Sawbones. Then smiles to the others waving you all in. "figured you'd the right to know and get your share of the cut." he steps away from his desk. and motions to the bed where the short swords and some potions are located.
"Take sword if you like, fine quality, and take a potion each those help knit your wounds, don't forget a coin purse (15 GP each)."
We waits to see the reaction of the group. You all realize he's well spoken, educated if not formally then by life's lessons.
He turns and bows to Astri, "Sounds like a bargain to an old sea merchant. You agreed to passage. Don't worry your tender voice isn't gonna be assigned to the cookie's galley."
"Now you all know we were the last ship out of Westcrown and you paid a pretty price to catch this ship. Your fare and those aboard was much higher than norm and as you can see our cargo was willing to pay to vacate before General Vourne and the pesky Thune eyes. You can do the math...heads multipled by what you paid to get aboard."
Darius steps up and says, "Sir, I have a fair amount of experience aboard sea faring vessels. I was previously a rigger aboard the Moon Reaver. If your willing, I'd like to help out aboard your fine ship, at least until I find myself a firing harbor. Sure beats sitting on my ass all day." He takes the offered blade and potion as he speaks.
"Take sword if you like, fine quality, and take a potion each those help knit your wounds, don't forget a coin purse (15 GP each)."
David nods briskly.
"My thanks, sir," he says with a polite voice.
"As I said - if I'm going to be on a ship, I'd rather make myself useful rather than lounge around like supercargo," he adds with a small grin.
He picks up a coin purse and a Cure Light Potion as they have been offered. He picks up the sword and examine it -
"I appreciate this portion of gear, sir - but I feel that you didn't ask us in here just to hand us our cut. Was there something else you had in mind?" he says, hoping to prompt the captain for more information.
His lip turn up and he nods to Darius, "You proved yourself today...nice work with the glaive, I could use someone like you, and..." he lets it trial off.
Darius steps up and says, "Sir, I have a fair amount of experience aboard sea faring vessels. I was previously a rigger aboard the Moon Reaver. If your willing, I'd like to help out aboard your fine ship, at least until I find myself a firing harbor. Sure beats sitting on my ass all day." He takes the offered blade and potion as he speaks.
David picks up another coin pouch and tosses it to Darius with a nod, then looks back to the captain, curious to hear more.
Responding to Dirk, "I could use, and the ship can benefit, for your group's talents. There is gonna be a hefty bounty on us...a death mark no doubt, and well...my tobacco is low, so after I drop the cargo at Corentyn I'm heading to Razor Coast for some more tobacco. That crossing can be brutal, but the lands are exotic." He puffs, "You hear of the Razor?"
We are light armored and weapons but we haven't been boarded yet. Our talents are in luring folks to try to board us, we've skilled at the close combat."
Darius replies, "Only in passing, sir, but I, for one would be willing to join ya for the voyage."
What better way to get away than go where nobody in their right mind would wanna follow!
She returns the captain's bow with a curtsy. "Thank you captain. I hope to see you at my performance tonight."
Astrianna's eyes light up a little as he mentions "the right to know"- she had been hoping the captain would reveal what was going on.
Her other interest is the spoils, of course, the woman eying up the equipment splayed out on the bed. The half-elf saunters over to the bed, carefully studying the swords. She picks one up and slides it partially from the scabbard, inspecting the blade for distinguishing marks while she speaks to the captain.
"These are fine blades, captain. I noticed your crew was particularly adept at repelling boarders and pulling free from the Thrune ship, despite the equipment advantage of their marines. You know, I used to work on a smuggler's vessel outside of Oppara, and we operated in a similar fashion. We transported hesh and flour, though- I have a feeling your specialty is people? In this case, nobility the Thrune are not fond of?" She looks over at the captain, attempting to make it clear that she is being frank, not disrespectful, and is simply expecting frankness in return.
Picking up another short sword, he holds it up to Embrianna, curious to see if she is interested in claiming one of the weapons as well.
Responding to Dirk, "That crossing can be brutal, but the lands are exotic." He puffs, "You hear of the Razor?"
David glances at his mates briefly, then back to the captain.
"Of course, sir; but speaking for myself, I feel that the more information I learn the better."
"What can you tell us of the place specifically?" he adds, curious for more information.
"I've heard of the Razor, but never had chance yet to sail it. I'd certainly like to join your crew for a chance to see it. I've done a little bit of most things on the various ships I've been on, but usually end up doing rope and rigging work and mending the odd thing or two. I also have some skill at healing, so I usually assist in caring for folks after a battle or accident. And rough crossings don't bother me sir."
I know I have yet to find where I come from, maybe it was somewhere out there along the Razor Coast? I hope I get the chance to see it and find out...
"There were, or it certainly looks like there will be some, changes in Westcrown. Thrune needs and Gen. Vourne understands that, some people don't desire to be around when that happens." He free admits.
"Now if you agree to join the crew, then well...part of the transport fee is given to all crew members." He stuffs his pipe again this time with a nice cherry blossom weed. He leans towards Sawbones to light it, knowing he has flint and tinder.
"Now if you agree to join the crew, then well...part of the transport fee is given to all crew members." He stuffs his pipe again this time with a nice cherry blossom weed. He leans towards Sawbones to light it, knowing he has flint and tinder.
David smiles at the Captain's gesture.
"What specifically would our duties include, if we did formally sign on as part of your crew? And where exactly would we serve on board?" he asks, curious to know what would be required.
"After all, we have many useful talents that might be helpful," he adds as he reaches his hand forward and waves it gently and the pipe ignites quickly as David casts on it.
"Also - how much of our "Transport Fee" be refunded; assuming we did sign on formally?"
"The problem with having only eye is I don't get double the pleasure when looking at you Ms. Embrianna." He chuckles. Then responds to Dirk's need more information question, "Crew's loyal to a fault cause the pays excellent, beating non-existent, and freedom to choose to get off the ship. We aren't the mightiest ship on the seas but the crew is second to none. When we aren't over loaded we are fast...weight and poor timing led to the event. Now Razor Coast, it beautiful, exotic, and fiercely deadly both on sea and on land." he puffs his pipe, "Everything I live for."
"Now Razor Coast, it beautiful, exotic, and fiercely deadly both on sea and on land." he puffs his pipe, "Everything I live for."
David smiles knowingly.
"Of course. Sounds very interesting," he says with a nod.
Yes - but what is the climate or the terrain like - and what of the people that live there; their gear, customs, cultures, languages, equipment, technology - and what of other nuances such as their cuisine, fashion, music, poetry, pageantry, architecture, faith, philosophy...
He leans back a bit.
"I've seen a few captains treat their crew like that in the past; the results have always been positive, in my experience. I look forward to further experiences," he says with a friendly voice, curious to know more about specific duties.
"Everyone crews and pulls time working. Able seaman are always needed, cook, rigger, surgeon, chaplain...been missing the surgeon and chaplain lately." He appears to be thinking or reflecting. "Can't say but the Surgeon and Chaplain are officers." He shrugs. "work hard it'll be rewarded, we're not going to be putting "Sweetvoice" in with the potatoes...your talent will be utilized properly. But when a hand is needed it goes where needed, no questions." he looks at the elf and Darius, "leaders to defend against boarders and to lead our own men's advancement are rare qualities."
Astrianna wasn't expecting a straight answer, and she isn't surprised that the captain side-steps the question. Very well, captain... I will continue to investigate myself.
She drops the line of inquiry and instead listens to the others speaking, taking a shortsword, potion, and a bag of coin. This talk of the Razor intrigues her, and while she had heard of the place it had never occurred to her to visit. The potential for adventure, and a cut of the transport fee, however...
"Hm... You are a convincing man, Captain, and your terms are most generous. If you can swear to me I won't be picking bugs off the tubers or scrubbing the mizzen, I'd be happy to sail the Razor with you and your crew- they have been quite pleasant." She inhales deeply as the cherry blossom weed smoke fills the room, exhaling pleasantly. Emerald eyes dart to his pipe.
"...though I'd scrub the mizzen at least once for a drag of that cherry right now..,"
"Sir, when my duties are not with the operation of the ship, I would be glad to run drills with the men. Although I am most proficient with my glaive, I am proficient with many weapons. Perhaps Adriel could train them in swordplay, while I train them in mastering polearms. This way, they can keep foes at bay and when the enemy closes, fall back to short blades. I will train them however you request, though."
The captain laughs hard, a scratchy sort of laugh. "Sweetvoice if we are stuck on rowboat in the middle of the Razor and all we have are tubers,' he laughs, "I can guarantee you will be scrubbing those tubers." Regaining his composure, "he hands her his pipe." he chuckles, "But I think we see eye to eye."
"Can't say but the Surgeon and Chaplain are officers." He shrugs.
David looks at the captain thoughtfully.
”I have done work as a ship’s surgeon, as you know, sir. If you really needed a replacement for that post, I would be happy to fill it at least as far as you’re traveling with the other folk aboard, perhaps farther, depending on how things proceed,” he adds.
David's eyes slide to Embrianna.
"She is an excellent aid as a surgeon; and very wise in the ways of the sea as well," he says politely.
David's eyes flick over to Darius.
"And the good Mister Darius was excellent at repelling boarders during the combat; he will certainly be a valuable aid to you during a combat," he adds sincerely.
Then his eyes flick to the others. He sees that Sath remains quiet as usual, though the half-elf has been fairly talkative.
He recalls his earlier efforts to get to know Adriel and Astrianna better quite clearly. For now he suspected until he knew them better it would not be prudent to expand on their efforts to the captain further until he knew them better.