The Shining Breeze

The Shining Breeze is a small merchant ship currently on the way to some elven ruins... but what is that odd creature?

The vessel is close to it's goal, travelling up the river towards the ruins. What dangers lie ahead?
Only time will tell.

---

Characters:
Alasse Saralonde - [dragoncaptive]
Madison -[Hutch]
Blitz - [dragoncaptive]
Reed Oceanwind - [Blood Raven]
Kilargo Menand - [xido]
Al'enaie - [Kim_Lundin]
Risii, Muka, Saeth (minor chars, felynne sailors)- [Blood Raven]
Linn Scarlett - [Linn Scarlett]

---

Al'enaie arrives to the ship. She looks at it, obviously interested 'Maybe I can try travelling the seas like that man at the tavern...' she thinks. After a minute she decides that's exactly what she is about to do and begins searching for anyone who can help her.

Kilargo Menand joins her after a light conversation about which direction to go, and it's decided to go out into the vast Blue Ocean, and see what the two of them could find along the coastline.
"Sound good?" Kilargo suggests and heads to the ropings for the sail.
The ship looks well enough to carry a full staff, but the two of them could manage it well enough for a light coastal voyage.
"Let's head north... Cooler weather that way."

Al'enaie is fascinated by the ship. And is really happy she got aboard. She searches up Kilargo so she can have someone to talk a bit to. "So... why did you chose to go out on the ocean?" she asks.

"Well," he answers, hoisting the sails for the quickly-purchased sailing ship, "I actually got sold to a slaver that ran a shit when I was young, and just stuck with it... Just found my way here after escaping a tough mutiny on the Destroyer of Dreams, a pirate-manned vessel that was about to lynch me before I jumped deck and swam away.... But I don't want to talk about that.... Let's just sail."
He asks Al'enaie to man the ship's wheel, and steer on his course...
"I have a hunch of sorts... Something important, I think."
As the sails and riggings are secured, the ship leaves port quickly.
"Never look back, I say," he speaks to the wind.

Al'enaie walks over to the wheel and, obviously surprized, takes a firm grip on it "You'd better know..." she sais "...I've never controlled a ship before..."

"Well, it's great weather to learn in," Kilargo says with a smile and a light chuckle, looking back to her while he checks all the ropes and riggings once more....for the fourth time since leaving ship, too, by the looks of it. It seems as though this human man has a bit of paranoia about loose ropes and hitches, but as long as they are secure, he seems happy.
"Stay close to the shorline, but far enough away to put three other ships lengthwise between us and the shore... It just got done storming, so the waves are still a little rocking, but more calm than you'd think. Just keep your hands firm on the wheel, and move with the rutter... Don't fight it, or you might find yourself out of control."
The ship's simple wheel is enough to keep the rutter put, but it is a little weaker than most larger ships' and could break if pushed too far....even by a woman, under the right circumstances.
A fair moment after they've left sight of port, Kilargo spots a wreck in the ocean... It is the Sea Bandit.
He calls back to Al'enaie, to keep her time, and slowly turn the ship to its side, in order to scoop them up.
"I knew I had a feeling about about something!" he cries to her.

"Did that happen during that storm you talked about?" Al'enaie asks and looks at the ship, keeping the wheel in a firm grip.

"It's a safe bet to say yes," he answers.
"Ahoy! Crew in the water: We're coming for you, just hang on!" he cries to the crew of the destroyed ship.
He runs back to the sails, to help slow the ship, and turn it to its side, in order to get a better shot at hoisting them in.
After making the ship's slowing approach, Kilargo calls down to them from the deck, "Did anyone go under?!"

---

Maddy sighed in relief, throwing her head back, which made her go underwater for a few seconds. "Get th' cap'n first," she spoke up, spitting out a bit of seawater.

Reed looked at the ship. "Now there's a pleasant surprise. I think I might even have to say a prayer to Lady Luck for this."

Alasse, straddling a floating barrel nearby, "Please take my bloody kit next!" Alasse yells desperately as she wipes the bleeding scratch marks on her arm.

---

As the boat comes to rest slowly beside their wreck, the human man tosses in a floating bouie on a long rope to hoist them up inside. The relatively small vessel should just about hold all of them well enough, though how many there are, it is still hard to tell for Kilargo.

A female sailor also stands at the deck's riggings, keeping the sails and rutter on a course, not to hit the stranded crew members. She stands in view, though Kilargo is in front of her with his knotted rope.

Reed climbs up the rope, and his felynne crewmembers follow soon behind him. On the deck he gratefully thanked the man "I thought we were going to drown after that storm wrecked our ship. If there's anything I could do to repay you just name it my friend."

Alasse nimbly climbs up after them. She drops Blitz on the deck and proceeds to search her bag for better bandages.

Kilargo stands astounded as the cat-like crew members come up on ship, and he stops short of speaking for a moment. Shaking his head, he begins to answer the first that spoke to him on deck.
"Uhm, well, let's just... uh, get you back to dry land for now, and get these wounds bandaged up.... Anybody still in the water? Any cargo you need pulled up?" he asks, hoping that they may have had some form of booty in their grasp when the storm came through.

"No, we were just on our way to pick up some cargo." Reed says, making up the lie as he went. He hoped these people hadn't found the wanted notes with his face on it yet. "Ow, my name is Reed by the way. I think I forgat to mention that. And I think we got all crewmembers now. The lot of them suddenly dissappeared, I doubt we'll ever find them back."
Reed walking to the railing and looked around, seeing nothing more than floating lumber here and there. then he looked back and saw his soaked little kitten sailors, and couldn't withstand grinning slightly. "Uhm, would you have some towels here or so? Because we don't have any dry clothes either, and we've been in the water for quite awhile."

"I think I saw some on a shelf below... the floor..." Al'enaie sais.

Maddy climbs up, not so gracefull as Alasse, but just as effective.

Kilargo looks around at all of them, wondering if he'd ever seen them before, but not recognizing any of their faces.
"Well, we just happened to leave port some time ago, and travelled this way on a whim... So we can get you back to Ionnya's port if you'd like. Al'enais and I were just getting used to this vessel for now, and we could probably use some extra help, if you'd like to stick to it..... Unless you have families you need to get to...." Kilargo explains.

"Ha," Maddy starts. "We better hope we don' run inta any o' my lot," she laughed.

Reed thought this over for a minute. His crew had the greatest numbers, but they didn't have much weapons. What they did have in firearms would probably begin to rust somewhere soon. So they could try to seize the ship, but somebody would probably get hurt, if not killed. But Reed didn't want to go back to shore either. His family was right here, his sailors, his crew. He didn't have anybody to go to anyway, and he had been on sea for way too short to go back already. Besides, he may be a pirate, he's not a ruthless killer or common thief. These people saved him and his crew, it would be ungratefull to take away their apperently newly aquired ship. "No, you don't need to take us to shore, we'll be happy to work with you people for awhile. We haven't been on sea very long, and I'd like to feel somem ore of the oceanwind befgore I get solid land under my feet again."

His felynne sailors, as always, agree with him.

"Right on," Kilargo says with a smile.
Now these are my kind of folks... he thinks to himself.
"OK, well, how's about we find some way of making this little sailing bouie a little more livable for the number of people we have here.... Maybe buy....or steal some side-crossbows and some cooking equipment, since we have such lousy means for food at the present moment... it was more of a spur-of-the-moment incident when Allie and I got on the boat and took off. We didn't come prepared for all the extras...." he explains.
"However, I'm sure we have enough to keep going north until we hit the next big port city, if not further."

Reed watched the man. He certainly did hear "steal". So would this man be a pirate as well? With one crewmember? Or maybe he is about to become one. Reed grinned, thinking this might become interesting. "Aye, that would be nice. But we don't have much money, and our weaponry is either lost or rusting. I have been able to keep one dagger dry..."

The female felynne grinned with her sharp teeth, and proudly said "I still have a weapon!"
She unrolled the whip at her belt, and slashed the wet leather on the deck, creating a hard splat sound.

"Aye Risii, so we see, and hear..." Reed says, grinning too. "Now let's put that away and see if we can make ourselves usefull in more usefull ways. For now this nice man here will be our captain. So *turning back to Kilargo* where to, cap'n?"
Reed couldn't keep from grinning at saying that. He hadn't used the word in years, and it was odd to be commanded around again.

Kilargo sighs at the thought.
"I prefer 'shipmate'. I am only a man, and this is only a ship... I have been on too many bauderous, high-minded sailing ships, with captains that couldn't give a damn less about what his crewmen think of their jobs, and so I will never call myself a captain... I am only a sailor. We will go where it is best for all of us... North."
He looks to Al'enaie for some support in this, and says, "Want to keep steering, or let someone take a hand at it? I know it's your first try...."

"Well... I begin to get a bit tired in the hands..." Al'enaie admits "I can go fetch the towels..."

"Okay, shipmate then." Reed says. "And I'll take over the wheel then, unless somebody else has the need to get his or her hands on the wheel."
He walked up to the wheel and steered it into North direction. He held it there, but was still in a pose which said he would leave the wheel to someone else if they wanted to.

Alas looks around as she finishes bandaging her arm and winces as she moves it. She looks around. "Nice boat." And then she remembers her duties, "Anybody injured or hungry?"

"I'm hungry." One of the male Felynne's said. The other nodded in agreement.

Alas looks over to Reed and then to Kilargo. "I'm going to make some stew, if that please ye capt'n."

"I won't stop ya." Reed said, now standing normally behind the wheel, steering through the waves a bit.

Alas nods her head and opens her bag and pulls out her pot, deer meat, herbs, potatoes, and some other fae ingredients. She sets a magical fire underneath it and then...stares at the ingredients. She mutters to herself under her breath while she begins dumping things in the pot.

Kilargo's eyes go wide, and he cries out.
"Ahh! What are you doing?!?!" he says, rushing over to the flames.
"We're on a WOODEN BOAT! You can't set fire on the deck!!" he cries.
Having not a single clue about magic, and completely distrusting of it, he is scared out of his wits' end.

Maddy closed her eyes tightly, after witnessing the magic. She took a few steps away and crouched down, feeling a bit queasy.

"Alas, could you be a wee bit more carefull with that?" Reed asks "Considering your fea blood and all? You know, that slightly chance in alot of your spells to go mischievous? Kilargo's right you know, it is wood, and I've allready lost one ship too many."

Al'enaie comes up from below the deck, carrying towels for the wet sailors. She looks at the magical fire, she then smiles towards Alas "Ah... another mage I see." she sais "That fire won't burn the boat, right?".

Alas turns to Reed and points to the fire. "A little trust is all I ask..." She motions to the fire and it sparks, "Perhaps I should use a simple heating spell. It'll heat the pot but there's no fire." She waves her hand and mutters some words and the fire disappears to be replaced by a warm glow that covers the bottom of the pot. She frowns. "Oh come on. I'm not that bad. Besides... after that other ship accident... I've been practicing..." She raises an eyebrow and turns to Al'enaie. "Mage? Me? Ah no... I have no such training. I just learned a few simple required spells."

Reed shrugged, more to himself then anybody else, and continued looing ahead. As far as he knew they were still on open seas, and there were no threaths of suddenly crashing into some underwater cliff or something like it, but he didn't exactly knew how far the storm had swept them.

Looking gruff and a little angry, Kilargo makes his way to the back of the ship, to where the burners are, and begins dragging the clumsy devices forward on the ship with his large arms.
"Here, you want to cook some food? Do it in THIS. I have no need for any crazy magics, whether fire or heat or locusts, for all I care... They ain't worth trustin' and I ain't about to start trustin' 'em now. So do me a favor, and stick with the ways we've been using for years and years, and leave the magic for the elves and pixies."
The large wood and iron cookers are like an archaic form of wood-burning stove, and aside from the one in front of him now, there is one more in the back of the top deck, and one more below, a bit larger for large crews.

Reed couldn't restrain from cuckling, but kept his mouth for the rest of the time. He didn't know where the towels where, but he didn't really care anymore, as his clothes were beginning to dry already in the oceansun. The felynne however, were beginning to look at the towels Al'enaie was carrying with really begging eyes. They didn't like wet fur.

Al'enaie notices the felines begging looks, so she begins to hand out the towels. "Yes, magic can be a bit unreliable sometimes. But as far as it's under control it's also a usefull tool." she sais.

Alas justs stares at Kilargo, and she points to her ears while she looks at him. "I am an elf... well... three quarters anyways..." She undoes the magic heat and lugs the pot on top of the cooker and just stares at it. "Ummm. How does this thing work?"

The felynnes gratefully and with a big smile accept the towels and start drying themselves. After a few minute they're quite dry, or dry enough to let the rest be done by the sun anyway. They give back the towels and thank Al'enaie. Then they look around to see if they can help on the ship. The smallest one of the felynne, a male called Muka, walks to the kitchen and helps Alas light the stove. Risii, the only female felynne, climbs up the mast and sits in the crow's nest, as that was her position on her former ship as well. The remaining brother, called Seaht, looks around a bit, and sees no activities for himself.

Remaining silent about his overlooking the elven ears, Kilargo lets Muka help her light the small burner.
"Good, well then, if everyone is keeping busy, I'll be below deck, charting a course on the maps... We're just a few kilometers north of Ionnya for the moment, and we'll be heading along the coastline," he explains to Reed, who is at the wheel, "so just keep steady, and I'll be back up in no time with a path for us."
He nods to the elven sailors and their crew, and heads toward the small hatch down into the lower decks.

"Allright." Reed says, nodding as well in case Kilargo wouldn't have heard his words, though there wasn't that much noise. It was something Reed had grown accustomed to. Then he just stood at the wheel, staring forward and making sure they wouldn't go out of course.

Al'enaie smiles to the grateful felynes and begins to look for a place where the towels would be able to get dry.

Alas lets the stew bubble for about twenty minutes before she stops the fire. "Stews up!"

Al'enaie finally finds a rope where the towels wouldn't fall down or fly away as soon as she turned away from them. She hangs them on the rope and then walks over to Kilargo "Do you know where we're heading?" she asks. When she doesn't get an answer she pokes him on the shoulder "Hey! Are you listening?".

"Of Course!" he yells back at the impatient girl, losing his concentration from the map he was paying attention to.
"We're heading north. We'll be away from land soon, and we'll head up to the lost empire, and search for some buried goods and riches... Alright?" he answers her in a huff.
He turns back around to his worktable, where a crude map of the lands is drawn out in ink, and a few pins are stuck in the western waters.
"We'll stop when it gets too rocky, but otherwise, I want to ride until morning, so we can reach some unsettled land soon. We'll get some supplies from the nightmen on the shore if we have to... Which we might, since all of these new guys are here..."

"You don't have to yell at me, my hearing's not that bad." Al'enaie sais "But you didn't answer me so I thought you didn't hear me."

Reed smiled "Sorry to be such a bother Kilargo, but I didn't want for my ship to sink either. But well, we can't help it now, can we? So let's just see what Alasse has made us for dinner, aye?"

Muka walks out of the kitchen as well "Muka hopes me didn't mess up too bad. Muka not such good cook."

Alasse grins as she hands out bowls. "It's Stew, an old favorite of mine. Hard to mess up and can be made with almost anything." She remineces."Why once I made with stringy rats, old bread, and I think vegetables..." She smiles proudly."Nothing can be wrong with this stew..." She thinks for a couple minutes." Well...nothing really serious."

Maddy recieved her bowl from her crouched position." Thanky," she responded quietly.

Al'enaie walks over to Alasse "May I have some too?" she asks.

Alasse nods, "Sure." She fills a bowl and hands it over.

"Thank you" Al'enaie sais. She then looks for someplace to sit down.


Muka goes into the kitchen again and gets 4 bowls, handing them over to the other felynne. Riisi has two bowls, one of which she brings to Reed seeing he couldn't get down because he was steering.

Al'enaie is eating her soup. "This is really good..." she sais "What's in it?"

Kilargo silently goes about making himself a bowl of the steaming stew.
After fixing it up and grabbing a small ladel spoon from the equipment drawers, he goes back over to his desk in the other room in the deck, musing over the tiny details on his old Map/Eastonia.
With so many people around, he begins to go about his whole silence ordeal, where he rarely answers the other crew members, out of modesty and a tinge of fear around others.

He keeps himself busy by helping out Reed with steering directions, which he every-so-often tells him where they are, and by helping tend to organizing the many extra pieces of equipment they had gotten along with the ship itself.

Reed was happily steering. Not only because this time he wasn't in the worst storm he had ever seen, but also because with each remark on their position Kilargo made Reed began to understand their position better as well. He came to the conclusion they had drifted west because of the storm, and that Kilargo was aiming for a wholly different harbor than he had done. Not that Reed minded though, he never really had a plan anyway, so this only made things more interesting.

Al'enaie finishes eating her soup and puts the bowl away. She walks over to Kilargo and takes a peek on the map. But since she can't get much out of it she goes to the stern instead. Where she stands, looking out over the horizon.

After a while, Al'enaie grows tired of just standing there, and the salty water begins to sting in her eyes. She turns her back to the stern and walks back to the others, more specific, to Reed "Excuse me..." she sais "Do you have time?"

"Yes, m'lady, what could I help you with?" Reed says, shifting his attention away from the wheel for a bit, seeing the water was quite calm still.

"I just wondered, what is that 'lost empire' Kilargo spoke about before?" Al'enaie sais.

"I wouldn't know, honestly." Reed replies, scratching his head. "When the old women told tales of old folklore and legends I was never there. I was in the harbor, watching the ships. If I even saw any old ladies at all, which we didn't rob."

Kilargo looks up, wondering at the two near the ship's wheel, and speaks up.
"The ruins of the ancient elven cities are sittin' on that old ground out there... The old Lanath Empire used to make base camp over here, when they still ruled the world. After the people rose up against them, they took off to the stars in a mass transmigration, as the mages in Stilya call it. A lot of people think they took off to another world out in the sky, but I don't think that's possible. And if they did, why wouldn't they come back? You know?"
He begins to rattle off on what seems like a pretty known-about subject on Kilargo's mind.
"They say there's some pretty hefty treasure still hidden there, but that's looking like just a bunch of rumor, since nobody's done found anything in that old place to this very day... But that don't mean it ain't fun to go searching..." he finishes, smiling as he looks back down to the map, and lays out a few more pen lines to denote their route.

Reed scratches his head. "So we're actually going to a place, where there's this tiny possibilty of treasure. And we might even find ruins. Hurray... I'm starting to feel like a bloody tourist here... An ill-equipted bloody tourist... Ah well, who am I to complain? Which way was it again?"

"How long will it take to reach this place?" Al'enaie asks "Days? Weeks?".

"Two days, near another, until we hit shoreline, and can hunt wildlife. Two more days of good sailing along that strait," he says, pointing to the strait between the land masses on the Map/Eastonia.
The portion labelled 'Lost Empire of Lanath' lies scribbled with various erasure lines, and now a single course lies scrawled on its parchment.
"Inland is where we'll find any treasure... Along the coastline, I would think... Sunken ships, perhaps... But to find the Lost Empire's Gold Horde would be almost impos........" he begins, then drops his jaw in complete wonder, looking directly outside of the open doorway past the men.
He quickly relinquishes his seat, and pushes harshly past the men as they turn to look at what he sees.
It is then that all present stop what they are doing to watch.
A strange beast of metallic sorts is sailing through the skies above them only by a few hundred meters above their heads, and coming directly toward their general direction.
Kilargo's eyes are wide with curiosity, wondering in awe if that creature is hostile or not as it gains speed toward them. A trail of blue fire burns behind it, and a sound begins to grow, quiet at first, then louder.
Before they can shout questions to each other, the sound is full-force, and too loud to hear over. The vibrations that shook the water around the ship had become a rumble, and a high whine rises in pitch as the object, which begins to look strangely non-living and bird-like, with a shining eyepiece as its only detail on its winged, metallic body. The wings remain motionless, sticking out to its sides, and the blue flames seem to propel it through the air with ease.
The terrible rumbling noise is all but defeaning when it comes rushing over head, the ship bobbing in the waves made as it passes precariously over the sails.

"o'ly 'it," is all that can be made out of Kilargo's words as it flies onward quickly, its intense sound flying away with it.
Every crewman aboard had nearly been entranced by its passing, and followed its entire course, still awestruck after its noise and form are far and away on the sea's horizon.
"Been a while since I seen something like that before...." Kilargo manages as he grabs his chest with his hand, almost winded with the surprise.

"What is that creature?" Al'enaie asks, keeping both fear and awe from showing on her face.

"Do we want to find out might be a better question..." Reed says, hands stiffened around the wheel somewhat.
The three felynnes came on deck, near the others, all three scared. Riisi even clutched herself to Reed's shoulders.

Al'enaie shrugs her shoulders "I want to" she sais.

Maddy stood, with her eyes squinted. Her heart was beating extremely hard, from surprise. "I'd love to as well," she piped.

"Kilargo, have you seen anything like that before?" Al'enaie asks.

The felynne had calmed down somewhat, and Riisi let go of Reed, a bit ashamed she clutched to somebody so easily. So, to make up, she said: "Riisi thinks we can go to look too."
The two brothers kept quiet, and said nothing on the matter. They didn't feel like doing anything out of the ordinary. Muka thought pirate life was much simpler than this. Reed would just say who was an enemy and they'd loot them. Saeth just wanted to stay alife.

"I have no clue what that thing was," Kilargo answers simply.
"I've only seen one on two other occasions, and never that up-close-and-personal. Once when I was younger, and first getting used to sailing, I saw one of them flying around at sea, but it was far away, and I only saw it through a scope... The other time was when a hole had opened in its belly to let out a lot of armored elves with strange weapons and tools onto a mountaintop near to where my ship was docked after I had been sailing for some years. Most of my crew was saved from the raid, but a few members were left behind when the tiny village was brought to its knees in the elven raids. There were reportedly many prisoners taken, perhaps, as someone once said, as slaves."
He lowers his head in shame, only to look once more at the horizon where the ship was slipping out of sight along the coastline.
"Old rumors say that the old Lanathian Empire is back to seek more slaves, like they did in the olden days... but that could just be rumor... Nobody really knows for sure, I would think. Either way, it looks like they just headed for where we're going, so if I am right, we might be heading directly to where they are.... We'll see."
After a heavy, deep breath, he finishes with, "Damn, that thing moved fast."

Reed sighed "Allright, dead ahead we go then. May Lady Fortune be with us, we may need her more than ever."

"So you mean elves rides in the belly of that creature?" Al'enaie asks "That can't be so comfortable..."

"Perhaps the damn thing just gets used to it," Kilargo curses, still aghast. Its wind had rocked the ship a little.
"I wonder why we didn't get tanked?" he inquires aloud to no one.
Straining to see the object in the distance, he says aloud, "Looks like it sure is going for Lanathian country.... We got a hot bird on our course now, brothas!"

"I meant it can't be nice for the elves..." Al'enaie sais.

"Maybe they have beds, or chairs." Reed said. "We don't sleep o nthe floar either, and our ship is of wood, not metal. But it must hurt to fall out of the sky in a lump of iron with that speed..."

"...and you are telling me..." a half-whispered voice said. Right after she had spoken, though, the hidden girl noticed that she had and quickly hid behind some barrels again, not wanting to be discovered hiking along.

"Hmm?" Al'enaie turns around.

"Who's that there?" Kilargo shouted, turning on his heels at the new voice. He knew his crew well, and the new voice had been unexpected. His slim eyes peer around the upper deck and rooms within sight.
"I just heard me a new voice... I thinks we have a stowaway.... Search the ship, lads."

Al'enaie goes towards the area from where she think the voice came from.

Reed blocked the ship's wheel, and started searching behind and around nearby barrels, heaps of rope, etc. The felynnes start to do the same, sniffing around some places to see if they can scent anything as well.

Maddy stood and began searching as well, near the area Al'enaie was searching.

The figure quickly ducked away and disappeared, using the invisibility magic that was her heritage.

Muka suddenly gestures towards the other felynne to come closer, and he pointed at a certain spot. Riisi and Saeth sniffed a bit, before nodding. Suddenly, they all jumped up on the spot, clinging to the invisible guest. Seemingly hanging in the air, Muka gleefully reported "Muka found it!"

A slight angered yelp was heared, after which the uninvited invisible guest started struggling and kicking at her adversaries.

Without much success, as Muka was clinging on her back, Riisi had grabbed hold of the legs and Saeth was grappling an arm.

The invisible figure yelled and tried to randomly stab someone with her dagger.

Al'enaie runs up to the group of felines, dangling in the air like puppets in invisible lines. She draws her sword and prepares to strike.

Kilargo turns quickly, thinking about the ship's safety of privacy, and locks the map room with a heavy lock, fearing that this might be the beginning of some strange elven raid, then stuffs the key into the sash of his trousers. He turns on his heels to stare down the activity going on on the other portion of the deck, saying nothing.

The figure blinked into few for a moment, revealing herself as a dark elven female, then she was gone again. Some kicks and hits were given from invisible fists, as she tried to fight her way out of the felynne.

Those however were getting quite annoyed with the fact their catch didn't give up so easily and sunk their teeth into the part they were holding. Which ment Riisi was both clutching a leg with her sharp nailed hand, and biting it as well. Muka was somewhat ganwing on a shoulderbalde, but it could as well be a hard peice of clothing. After all, he couldn't see. Saeth wasn't biting, but he tried to drag the elf down.

The elf yelped and started kicking even more fierce, driving a dart in Riisi's hand in an attempt to free herself from the painfull claws.

Riisi gave a little cry before letting go of the invisible stranger. Seath was intimidated a bit as well by this elf, and let go a little. Muka was still clinging to the girl though, and with a thug he pulled her on the ground.

Reed took a pistol from his belt, put his boot on where he guessed the elf was and smiled to see his foot apperently stopping in mid air. He aimed at where he was standing, so he wouldn't miss if he shot. "Okay, show yourself or you shall be shot and marrooned anyway."

The elf popped into view, turning out as a female dark elf, "iam sorry that i disturbed you" she said, editing a sweet and innocent smile.

"Don't worry about it too much, lass. As soon as we stripped you from any valuebles you will have a very small time to tell us what on earth you are doing here, before we decide to kick you overboard and leave you to drown. Unless you get eaten by something first." Reed answered with a slight bow, still aiming for the elf's head.

"Start talk now so we can save time" Al'enaie sais and walks up next to Reed.

She tried to surpress a grin, and pushed the tip of the sword away with her left finger, "iam just hicking along"

"If you only wanted to travel with us, why didn't you just ask us?" Al'enaie asks and puts the sword back in its scabbard.

"I recall felynne's not really liking my kind?" she lifted an eyebrow and stood up.

"Careful!" Al'enaie yells to the elf "Do you want... whatever that thing does in your head!?" she makes a gesture towards the pistol.

"no thank you, that would damage my brain, i might need it" the dark elf remarked somewhat sarcastically.

"Shut up and be silent then." Reed said. "Saeth, see if she has some interesting stuff on her."
The felynne walked up and crouched at the elf's side, going through her pockets and putting aside any weaponry she was carrying.
"So, when you're down there in your awkward position anyway, what's yer name lass?" Reed continued the forced conversation.

"Linn, but that would be -miss- Linn, to you, cat" the drow mushed, glaring at the felynne.

"How long were you about to hide here, anyways?" Al'enaie asks Linn "You would have to eat sooner or later".

"until we'd dock, and i can go without food for a while" the dark elf mushed.

"Sure thing lass. But truelly, there are others who do need to eat every once in awhile." Reed says. "For example, it's been long since we've fed the sharks."
The felynne who was going through Linn pockets now grinned at her mischievously with his pointy teeth, while continuing his work and stripping her of all but her clothes. "Done."

The drow crossed her arms and gave the felynne a murderous glare.

"Alright, alright," Kilargo pipes up, coming down from the map room stairwell.
"I'll not see any innocent drow killed on the ship, so you'd better make damned sure he's ill-hearted before you go feeding the sharks, boys. I've had too many death threats made on my ships for killing the wrong drow in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He tried to hide the fact that he was more terrified of displeasing a high-ranking drow official in Ionnya than anything else, but protecting the innocent was a good mask.


"An innocent drow? No such thing exists!" Reed said, and he was aware he was using the word 'thing'. "I certainly don't agree with this... On the otherhand, you're the one who fished us out of the water, so I guess I owe you something. Fine then, I hereby declare I don't care what happens to the drow, and" -casting a look at his felynne- "neither do my crewmembers. As long as she treats them right, that is."
He put his weaponry away and pulled up the elf, although a bit grumpy and harsh.

Al'enaie looked from Kilargo to Reed, and then back to Kilargo again. She was not certain which one of them she agreed with. She had always heard that drow were evil and should not be trusted, but she didn't want innocent people to die either.

The drow female pulled her arm back from Reed's grasp and dusted her clothes clean, "thank you for the royal and warmhearted welcom" she answered, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Thank you for coming onboard unwanting." Reed returned with a grim voice.


The drow smiled and diped in a low bow, "its been my pleasure, sir"

Al'enaie realized that she was still holding her sword. Quickly she put it back into it's scabbard.

"You're right, Reed, I plucked your drowning kittens and you out of the water and onto my ship, so you might think twice about killing just anythin' on this ship.... Even drow," Kilargo says to the felynne captain.
Looking back to the drow stowaway, he says, "And don't go thinking that you can get away with just anything... You're still a drow, and not to be trusted with anyone's life but your own..... Not even to mention," he paused, "That you're a WOMAN drow...."
He cast her a final impending glance as he spoke, "And what was that little word about the 'royal welcome'? Not implying anythin about you being royal now, are ya, madame?"

"Well, it'd be more of a pleasure if she was. At least then we could try and get some money from it." Reed shrugged. He was still grumpy, but settled with Kilargo's words and didn't oppose anything. In fact, he had his face under control again and seemed totally indifferent.

"I don't think a royal drow would sneak onto a ship without knowing where it was headed." Al'enaie said "If she had money she could just pay for transport wherever she wanted to go without the hassle of getting caught.".

"Or maybe I was confident enough to asume that you'd be to stupid to notice me?" the drow female answered, glaring at Al'enaie, "who I am and what I want is none of your business, where I came from men are stacked for questioning -any- woman's choice of action"

"Guees what? You aren't where you're from." Reed replied. And looking back to his crew. "You should get back to work before we drift into something. I'll tell you everything about the drow in the evening."
The felynne looked a little dissapointed, but went to work, climbing into the mast and the sails or beginning to clean the deck. Reed sighed, seeing Kilargo was mad at him and the closest to a captain on the ship, there was a chance he would soon be cleaning that deck along with Muka.

"Precisely," Kilargo starts.
Though Reed's obvious leadership skills were finding themselves intrinsically challenging, Kilargo appreciated his boldness with the heisting newcomer. They had still yet to deal with the ship he thought they may follow, and he feared they were losing valuable time.
"If you're treated with any degree of royalty among your own people, then you'd be hard-pressed to find any such luxuries on this ship. You'll be treated as any other sailor... and definitely not as some crazy hive mother or anything," Kilargo informs her. "I don't care who you are."

"I'll take the wheel for a while..." Al'enaie said to Kilargo, happy that things seemed to be settling down for now, she went to the wheel.

"Be about, male" the Drow retorted, sitting down on a barrel nearby, shielding her eyes a bitt from the sun with her hand.

"Just put her to work, and make her walk up front when we're searching that metal bird thing." Reed suggested.

"Kyorl dosst ooble', j'nesst. Usstan orn naut inbal degahr ghil, nin," Kilargo answered the drow swiftly in her own language to counter her courage. "Vel'drav udos ragar l' vholk suru, dos orn z'hin ust p'los udossa."

Reed shrugged. His presence wasn't wanted apperently. He decided he should see some more of the ship and went belowdeck.

"Kyorl dosst ehmtu ooble', xor dos xal ragar ol alus kitrye i'dol dosst telanth," she replied, surpressing a demonic grin.

Al'enaie glances over her shoulder to Kilargo and Linn "What are you two talking about?" she ask.

"Don't make threats you cannot keep, milady," Kilargo speaks in common once more.
"Don't worry about it, Al'enaie, the good MISS Linn was just commenting on how much of a gentlelady she will be on our journey, hereafter. Isn't that right, Lady Linn?"


"I never break a promise..." was all the Drow answered.

"Well, that's good." Al'enaie said and turned her attention back to the wheel.

Kilargo wasn't convinced.
"Usstan talinth vel'bol dos zhahen ezual, zhahus nindel Usstan orn'la 'noa ussta ooble' kitrye i'dol tu'fyr ussta wiles,' zhahus ol naut? Usstan gumash tlu xusst, drill ussta ilythiiri ooble' zhah desu llieh," Kilargo taunts at the dark elf in return, carefully playing his knowledge of drow inflection against the woman's clever and sadistic ego.
"Xun naut morfeth natha wael d' dosstan ulu uns'aa xuil dosst kor, ussta jallil. Ussta zhaunil d'lil ilythiiri zhah retlah lu' al, lu' Usstan orn naut kuuv ulu shar'tleg ussta rath pholor dos."
Kilargo narrows his eyes, smirking ever so smoothly, making sure to try to make as much of a fool of her as she intended to do to him with her sure words.
"Xun naut tlu waela xuil uns'aa! Usstan zhahus natha rothe ulu natha ilythiiri senger, lu' Usstan zhaun ninta ssinssrin whol byrren's jiv'undus....! Lu' xun naut talinth nindel Usstan orn ser tu' ussta solen veirus bauth dos!"
Merely standing more astutely, only the volume of his voice raises as he presses his point.
He neither cares nor knows if any of the crew can understand what has taken place between the two of them.


"Lor a uns'aa jal dos ssinssrin, F'sarn kl'ae ulu ol," the Drow woman replied, winking at him. "Usstan'bal elggen sengeren lu' jallilen verve p'los dos malaruth dosst i'dol doeb d' dosst ilhar ilta rezl... dos orn'la tlu bekea naut ulu shar'tleg dosst rath pholor uns'aa, qu'madonest jaluk"

Kilargo merely chuckles in response to her, not letting on to the true thoughts behind his eyes.
Secretly, he fears only her intense presence on the ship for an extended period, but holds true that she would be diposed of the next time they hit landfall.
"Is everyone ready to see this iron falcon again, and I mean REALLY ready? Because we are closing nearly halfway to the bay just around that cliffside, which was where it was last, before it went down.... This could get rocky," he asks aloud.

The Shining Breeze rapidly aproached the bay, a bit too fast for anyone to feel good about it.

Linn lifted an eyebrow and smirked over the pirate admitting his defeat by not responding.

Alas wakes up from whatever she'd be doing and looked over to all the commontion. She sees her old friend and hurls herself at her. "Linn! This is wonderful! What are you doing here! This is going to be sooooo much fun! I can't believe it's been so long! Why, Blitz is half the size she was! Why, I wonder if she still remembers you! It has been a while in her years... We're not near the elven coast are you? I hate to have to see my dad...he'd be rather upset if he knew what he was doing now...but that can't be helped. Anyways, enough about me. How are you? What are you doing here? It's great to see you here! And I've been practicing some spells! Watch!"

"nooooo! Alas dont!" Linn laughed,"It's good to see you too, though i must comment that you did a terrible job at training these 'slaves' of you" she said playfully, waving at the rest of the crew, "they wanted to trow me overboard! Oh and Kitt grew aswell, and did i tell you that Lucieus overtrew Costalondral? I hope you didnt have familie there because they surely are on their way to whatever you believe in after death now"

"Slaves? I don't have slaves, Linn," Alas looks at Linn funnily, "I'm fae, we don't believe in slaves. Costalondral? Where's that?"

"Hmm one of the three main highelven cities to the north" Linn chuckled, "meldor actually said something that could have been taken as a praise towards his son"

Alasse shakes her head. "Nope, none there. It was more of an Elven village than a city which is why I and my impurties were able to stay so long. What did Meldor say?"

"Oh something about that it was a grand accomplishment for House Idrill thanks to his son Lucieus yada yada" Linn shrugged, "it sounded as much as a compliment he'd ever given. Not that he does that regulary! not even to me" she pouted.

Alas nods, "Well, if he complemented you often you wouldn't treasure them as much..."

Linn grumbled and crossed her arms, "I dont need his compliments and I certainly do not treasure them!"

"Kilargo, I think we need to get rid of some sails." Al'enaie shouts "It's getting harder not to hit rocks.".

Alas looks around. "Tell me what to do! I'm only a surgeon and the cook..."

The three felynne quickly scrambled up the mast and began to bring in the sail.

As Kilargo finds himself staring at Linn and Alas in horrified stupor over their cordial and froo-froo chittering conversation, he is awakened to the situation by Al'enaie's calling. Looking at the rather able and agile felynne taking to the masts, he gives a smirk and shrug to Al'enaie to assure her it's taken care of.
He walks up deck to her at the wheel, closer so as not to speak so loudly.
"This is beginning to look more like a floating party than a sea-faring troop. Keep up slow and close to shore. Watch these rocks... They will end soon. As soon as we hit the river entrance, it drops away to a lower depth. The stones are smooth for the most part, and will not damage the hull much if we're careful. Just guide us to the river mouth, and we'll be safe from there. The old elven empire built the shallow bed to keep deep-sailing warships from entering the straits, but we're a rather small ship. We'll make it. Don't go for the coast, keep on through the river basin, and we'll scope a safer place to make land, under some cover," he instructed her shortly after making small talk. It seemed he was adept as showing friendliness under the guise of professionalism, but often only then. Regardless, at least he was cordial while he instructed the strong young woman.
He keeps his eyes shifting from the coast to the crew. Feeling unease, he wondered what his intuitions were trying to tell him.

Reed came up on deck again, after having taken a tour through the ship. He noticed Kilargo and Al'enaie at the wheel and his Felynne in the mast, and everything seemed to be going well. So he walked up to the wheel and entered the conversation. "I see we're almost there. Seeing you're the one who captains the ship right now, I'll make this a suggestion. I suggest we find a place to anchor, and after that discuss how we will organise this little exodus to that metal bird. I wouldn't consider it smart just to run after it."
He then looked at Alas and Linn who were easily chatting away. "Do those two know eachother?"

"Okay, I'll keep as close to the shore as I can..." Al'enaie sais and turns the wheel slightly "How far up the river do you think we'll have to sail? And how wide is the river?" she took a quick look over the shoulder towards Linn and Alas "It seems they have known each other a while, what a coincidence".

Linn heard the comment and flashed a grin, showing her sparkling white teeth, "been to school together, had the same old pig for Arcane Magic...even HE didn't understand what the hell he was teaching us" she chuckled when remembering their old drow tutor.

"Right..." Reed said, not really believing any of it. "As long as you know what you're doing on the ship and don't bother me, or the rest of us for that matter, I don't care. Just try and help get the ship anchored safely."
To demonstrate his point, Reed even got to work himself, which seemed to surprise the felynne somewhat. Apperently Reed never did any sailor duties on board his own ship.

So much for the perfect captain, Linn thought while her grin broadened. She then turned her attention back to Alas, intend to complain about the fact that she hadn't eaten yet.

"Keep sailing past the stone shallow," Kilargo tells Al'enaie after Reed has continued into his duties.
As the boat approaches the shorline, and glides swiftly nearer to the shallow, the bottom of the boat scratches along the high ground for a few long moments when the crew holds their breath, and as the ground falls way to a deep chasm afterward, Kilargo sighs loudly.
"Excellent, I knew we could make it. Now let's keep in close to shore, drop anchor, and devise a plan for making landwalk. Not much cover anywhere through here for a ship this big, so we'll just have to take our chances," he suggests, pointing out at the shore and landscape.

"I'm on it..." Al'enaie sais and begins to steer the vessel a bit closer to the shore.

Having nothingm uch to do right now, as the work on the sails had finished, Reed came back to Kilargo. "You know these waters, but do you know these lands? In any case, I don't. When we're going to land, how're we going to manage ourselves? We don't know if that iron bird, or this land, is hostile or not. My crew doesn't have any weapons, save for my own blade, Riisi's whip and a few pistols without gunpowder. And those have all been in the water. They might not work even when we have gunpowder. So unless you're certain there are only squirrels overthere, I'd like to hear some form of solution."

Considering his concerns with some level of concentration, Kilargo merely looks into his eyes, weighing his thoughts carefully.
"I am relatively aware of the lay of this land, though not in every corner, nor every path. I am not a guide of these lands, but I have sailed by them many times, and spent a bit of time on its shores when we anchor for rest and pause. I have only a sparing bit of experience with matters such as the iron eagle, but I am certain it has to do with the old rulers of the lands, the elves of the Lanathian Era. I was told the stories so many times I could tell them in my sleep..." he muses, looking at the land in contemplation.
"We should send scouts. Someone to investigate the area where it could have landed, and someone who is adept at sneaking about," Kilargo gave a meaningful look at Reed and then at his felynne crew.
"We can investigate the site, learn anything we can, and then we can return for Ionnya to get more supplies. If this is inadequate, then I'd like to hear a better plan, aside from, leaving... And something tells me we are not men if we turn back now. That is known as sailor's dishonour, I'm sure you've heard the term, yeah?"
Kilargo puts Reed in his place as he typically does after making a solid point in his mind, and is not modest in any sort about the situation at hand.
"We've got enough supplies now for three days plus the trip back to Ionnya. We'll be fine if we just keep our wits about us. I have never heard a story of horror in reference to these things, only awe and wonder. I am sure it has to do with the elves, though no one can say to what degree."

"Alright, sounds fine. And for the record, I said we shouldn't get killed. I said nothing about turning the other way." Reed replied, raising an eyebrow at Kilargo. He turned towards the three felynne, who were still at work. "Muka, Saeth, Riisi! Perpare to leave ship! That meaning, check whatever you managed to salvage from our ship, and make sure it works. We'll be scouting the island when we're anchored!"
He turned back to Kilargo. If the man was planning on organising the entire trip, Reed'd make sure he'd organise it well. "So, how're planning on taking care of this? Will we make up camp on shore, or return to the ship each night? And should I come sit by your bed tonight to hear about any elven stories you mumble in your sleep?"
If Reed was the captain on the ship, he'd have made sure a sailor who'd say that to him wouldn't speak for another 3 days, but Kilargo made the remark himself, and he had said he wasn't a captain, so Reed wondered if he'd gone to far, or not...

"I don't think he was serious when he said that..." Al'enaie sais to Reed "And even if he started to tell elven stories in his sleep, I don't think it would be too wise to trust them so much..."

"My dear, did you truly believe I'd go and sit by his bed?" Reed said, frowning at Al'enaie.

Linn leaned on the rail while eating a biscuit she had taken from her pack. By the gods she was hungry and longed to set her foots on shore again.

"One never knows..." Al'enaie sais and shrugs.

Alas pops back into this reality from her day dream and starts munching on some sweet snack cakes. She looks around. "Anyone hungry yet?"

"I'm a little hungry..." Al'enaie sais "Kilargo, how far up the river should we go?".

Alas takes another bite of her sweet cake, swallows, and asks, "Hungry for what?"

"What've we got to eat?" Al'enaie asks "It doesn't matter much."

Alas motions with her sweet cake. "Well, sweet cakes obviously and soup and whatever else I got in my bag or whatever provisions this ship has."

"Soup, please." Al'enaie sais.


Alas nods and drags one of those huge cooking things out and starts to prepare a generic soup.

"Actually it's not a river at all," Kilargo responds to Al'enaie, "It's a strait. It goes between the mainland," he comments, pointing south, and pointing toward the island north of them, "and the large island where Lanath used to lie... As for how far, just use your gut instincts... I say that looks like a fair enough spot," he replies, gesturing to a small inlet bay along the coastline just inside the strait, which actually held some privacy from the ocean and up the strait itself.
He brushes off Reed's comments and hopes that he will make up for the poor attitude with some good leadership skills, providing he is in fact any sort of captain at all... thinking it over, he did seems to recall the elf's ship sinking into the Blue Ocean.... But it was worth giving him a second chance. Kilargo only hoped he wouldn't have to put the smacks to him as they continued on their voyage.

Al'enaie looks in the direction Kilargo had shown "It looks like a nice place." she sais, not caring too much wether it's actually a strait or not. Gently she begins the steer the vessel towards the inlet.

As Reed didn't get a direct response from Kilargo, he figured the man didn't really care what his crew did as long as they where sailing in somewhat the right direction without creating a direct risk of sinking. Not much of an attitude at all, if you asked Reed. As Kilargo hadn't mentioned anythign about where they'd camp or supplies, Reed figured Kilargo didn't care much about that either, as long as they scouted the coast. Reed decided not to continue the comments for the coming while, he knew enough. He'd better check his own equipment as well before they'd go ashore. He called the felynne together, and he inspected all the weapons. Riisi's whip was ok, his one dagger was too. But the rest of it... He had two pistols, no dry powder, and his cutlass was lost in the storm. Muka usually fought with a spear, which he didn't have right now, but Reed thought that could be sloved on shore, with the help of some strong plant and the dagger (Reed hoped there'd be something bamboo-like growing there) and Saeth had been able to salvage his short blade, but it had become wet. It was already rusting near the handle, too.

Alas scratches her head as she tries to remember how to make generic soup...it's harder than it looks...and watches the rest of the crew prepare of landing on the shore. She shrugs and continues to make the concoction which she can't really remember. She digs into her bag and grabs a few things which aren't quite generic.

Linnerial glances at her friend, "what'ya doing?"

Alas glances up. "Generic soup....but I forgot how to make it..." She puts some strange spice in. "So I'm guessing..."

"What're you adding to it?" Al'enaie asks "I don't remember seing that stuff being put in soup before.".

Alas shrugs. "Well, I'm guessing so...I guess this is a good spice to go in and I guess that this meat is okay...." She sniffs it. "Yeah, it's good. Umm well, it's more of a stew now that a soup...generic stew is easier than soup and more filling."

"Hmm, okay." Al'enaie answers Alas "Kilargo, we're almost there...".

Alas shrugs and starts stirring the stew as it bubbles and emits a bluish cloud. "It's suppose to do that..."

"What?" Al'enaie asks and looks over her shoulder "...What the heck did you put in that!?" she asks "It smells..." she racks her brain to find a fitting word.

"Bad magic..." Linn said while trying to surpress a chuckle.

Alas pretends to look injured at their comments. "It's suppose to do that."

"Really?" Al'enaie asks with a tinge of irony in her voice.

"Well...now it is..." Alas watches the stew. "It's not done yet either..."

Reed and the felynnes had finished gathering things they'd think come in handy. "Alright, I've got four hammocks and 4 blankets. There weren't any mosquito nets, so this'll have to do, might we stay on land. I got one big meat knife from the kitchen, which is the closest I could find to an axe. There's some dry food in the provisions cabinet, enough for three days anyway, for the four of us. Nobody has said they wanted to come along so far, so I'm thinking there's still only four of us going. Further, there's a latern for me, as you three can see plenty in the dark, and you've all got a bag. We'll have to do with that, kittens. As soon as we're anchored and secured, we'll go ashore."

Alas notices that her captain is moving out. She jumps up, grabs her bag and dashes next to him, forgetting about the stew. "Where are we going?"

"I hope we won't run into too many mosquitos, then." Al'enaie sais "I don't want to spend three days trying to kill small bugs while having itching bite-marks.".

"Aaaaaaaawwwww," Kilargo cooed beligerantly at them all, hoping to get them into the fighting, pushing mode that usually made things more productive with his old crews.
"You ladies want a kerchief to dry those crocodile tears?" he says in a high whiny voice, and then, sloughing a heavy pack over his shoulder, he huffs once and calls, "Anchor set! Drop the lander!"
He grabs ahold of one of the ropes to loose the pulleys holding the small paddle-boats against the side of the ship, and waits for the other to be grabbed before he pulls it loose.

"Going so soon?" Al'enaie asks Kilargo "You'll miss the stew.".

Alas bounces up and down and then remembers the stew. "My stew!"

"Don't say it's burnt too..." Al'enaie sais with a sigh.

"We're going ashore, my dear Alas. You may bring your stew." Reed said with a flambouyant (sp?) smile. He grinned at Kilargo's comment, which sounded a bit odd to him. He was more of the rawdy uproaring speech kind, rather than calling his crew chickens. He walked over and grabbed the other rope of the pulleys. Together with Kilargo he let down the paddle boat, and he kicked down the rope ladder so they could get in. He looked at his felynne, who seemed to be rady to go, having their bags packed. Then, he looked at Kilargo. "So, Kilargo, my good man, are you coming too, or shall you stay here to guard the ship? Or do you have enough faith in this drow lady to come with us and leave your ship to her?"
Although he didn't want Kilargo not to come along, he made sure Kilargo heard the "your ship" part. After all, he'd bought it (or stolen it fair and square) and Reed wouldn't leave his ship in the hands of strangers either (if he'd still have a ship, that was. How he cursed that storm).

Alas tasted the stew. "Done!!!! You can have it!" She motions to Blitz and swings over the side of the ship into the paddle boat. She restrains herself from jumping up and down. "Fun, Fun, Fun!!!"

Al'enaie leaves the wheel and walks up to the pot with stew and looks into it "Okay... so who wants to help me carry this to the boat?" she asks.

Kilargo watches as the boat is let loose, then looks to Reed as he questions him.
"I'd like to stay here, but since I am the only one with a solid knowledge of the lay of these lands, I would have to expect that I must go with the group," he responds. He looks once to Linn, who he gives a once-over glance.
"You have any knowledge of these lands, drow?" he calls out to Linn.
"Does anyone?" he asks, hoping that someone will agree as he peers into the face of each member of the crew.

Alas shakes her head. "And I have no map of the area either..." She thinks. "Nope...no map....Wait...no...yes...maybe...no, different kind of map...nope."

"Alright, it seems like you are truly the only one who's been here before." Reed says. "I'm guessing this creates a problem? Who volunteers for staying with the ship?"

Alas looks at Blitz and Blitz looks back at Alas and growls. Alas looks at Reed. "Blitz could. She doesn't care for water."

Reed was happy to hear they'd have at least one 'volunteer', but less happy it could hardly be called a crewmember. Sure, the felynnes were cats too, but at least they could speak and didn't walk on all fours. "Alright, Blitz it is. Anyone else?"
He was used to assigning guards instead of asking for them, but seeing this was a politically correct ship without much of a leader, he had to change his policy.

Alas wiggled in the little boat. "Plus she doesn't like this boat. She thinks it'll sink."

"I would prefer to follow you ashore..." Al'enaie sais "But if we can't get any more volunteers I guess I can stay.".

"If that is what you choose, Ally, then that will be the way we will...." Kilargo begins, when his voice is muted by a sound loud enough to be a stampede of thousands of bison or a tornado. Beyond the hills just up from the coast, and seemingly from within the forest in the hilly lands, the iron falcon rises once more, lifting up as if in levitation, slowly spinning to face them.

Kilargo, turning to look at the source of the sound, pauses before his eye widen and he ducks to the ship floor instinctively.

The iron falcon suddenly becomes louder still, like a vortex of pure force rumbling the very water and ship they were on, and shoots over top of them, and with one final change of pace, it dives upward as blue flames pour out of the rear of its body from pockets where it burns brightly, and it shoots directly up into the sky, quieting in volume as it leaves, leaving all of their ears ringing and their hands shaking from the force of the strange object.

Reed crawled up from the floor, half-deaf and speechless. He refound his speech soon enough though, and muttered: "We don't have to worry about that anymore... We still going to the blasted island?"


Alas stares in amazement after the creature. "OF COURSE!!!" She yells up to them. "How could you change your mind now?"

"Do you think it saw us?" Al'enaie asks "It didn't seem like it was interested in the ship.".

Alas shrugs and yells up again. "Who cares!?! Now we KNOW there has to be treasure! Let's go!"

"How can you be so sure there's treasure?" Al'enaie asks Alas.

Alas points in the direction of the giant bird. "Giant monster bird... ruins... how can there NOT be treasure?!" Alas grins.

"Gaint bird flew off and took the treasure." Reed merely stated it as a dry option. Not as an argument for not going to the island, but as a fact to drag Alas closer to a state of realism.

Alas puts her hands on her hips and looks at Reed. "That bird was HUGE! It'd have to be huge treasure to interest it! Therefore, all the little treasure that's not really little to us would still be there!" She claps her hands together. "Come on, LET'S go!"

Kilargo opens his mouth wide, trying to pop his ear drums, but to no success.
"Look, I hardly doubt that you will find treasure in any place that anyone else has ever looked. The lands of Lanath are teeming with ancient ghosts, and no one has yet to find wealth there, let alone treasure to speak of. If anything, the most anyone has found outside of nothing is their own death or kidnapping. I'm sure that an expedition is in line, for the crew's future well-being, but be advised that that bird was no dragon, and no hoards have been found anywhere that the creatures have been sighted," he replied to the debating crew.
"If your curiosity seeks you to return to its 'nest', then have at it. But I doubt you will find treasure there."

"Why are we going ashore again?" Reed replied with something of a sneer, though one couldn't be sure. "I believed we went in chase of the metal bird, i nthe first place. But it seems the 'bird' has took off again."

As the ringing in their ears cecedes from their senses, they can begin to hear the chirping of birds in the now mostly silent shoreline area along the strait. The swishing of the trees and animal sounds along shoreline are now the loudest sounds for nearly a mile.

Linn glanced at the shore, she hated the way those noisy surface creatures went about their dayly life. She sighed.

Reed grumbled, seeing nobody was going to reply to him. "Fine then! We'll go ashore. I guess we'll need to find some food and supplies anyway, if we don't want to die of starvation or some disease..."

Linn gave him and some of the others standing closely around her a somewhat disgusted look, hinting that she wondered if they already had diseases.