Hyrule Adventures 2

Words couldn't very well describe the thrill and surprise that Kuro felt when the boat took off and no pirates jumped on board. In many of the adventures he had heard stories of, the enemy had something up their sleeve and a fight would begin, but thank the goddesses that that was not the case this time.

Kuro sheathed his Deku swords for what he hoped would be the last time in a long, easy voyage, but something inside him said that this would likely not be easy, and he should be prepared for the worst.

He stood momentarily, watching the docks get smaller and smaller, and turned back to look at Taint when the word "feast" made it to Kuro's ears. A feast sounded perfect after a trek across half of Hyrule. He walked with the group down to where this feast was to be prepared. Once in the meal hall, he listened to Taint's explanation of the quest that they were embarking on, and when he was finished, he grabbed a large piece of steak and sat at one of the small tables nearest the room's corner.

Feet propped up, and with a plate at his lap, he began to eat slowly, savoring the delicious steak one bite at a time. It wasn't long before he got thirsty, though and noticed that there weren't any drinks. Kuro had some water, but maybe pirates would have raided some more exotic drinks that Kuro had never heard of. Although it wasn't very likely, it didn't often hurt to ask.

Kuro swallowed a piece of steak that he had finished chewing, and shouted across the room. "Hey Cap'n, do you have anything to drink?" he asked, hoping for a satisfying response.

OoC: Alpha:

IC:

Arrika snorts derisively at Taint's last comment- he may be the "Captain" of their voyage, but naturally, she doesn't care if she has his consent or not.

"Let's go below," she says to Raven, heading down a flight of stairs. It wouldn't do any good to let the little girl, no matter how capable she seems to be, take the lead, especially when Arrika was probably twice as old as her. Thieves are generally a suspicious and unfriendly lot, especially when around each other, and the more she thinks about it the more she's convinced that trapping two thieves on one ship is not a good idea. Arrika's not an aggressive person, but she's not going to back down either. The calm, unphased girl unnerves her a bit, although she'll never admit it. No one should act so seriously at nine... even she, being raised by a master rogue, had acted like a child at that age. No, it simply would not do to let little Raven get any ideas about who's the real thief on this ship.

For a moment she feels foolish for getting so worked up about wanting to prove herself to a child... but there's something about Raven, something she can't quite put her finger on, that makes her feel daunted and stand on edge.

No sense in worrying too much before she even got to know the kid. She descends the stairs silently, with a cat-like grace. Right before her foot reaches the last step, she freezes, and remains perfectly balanced. She glances in the general direction of Yukie and the shadowy figure the Deku was talking to, although she doesn't know who it is she's sensing.

There and gone again... If I hadn't been so alert I would have missed that. She slowly lowers her foot, closing her eyes and listening again. She dimly recognizes the mysterious presence, and what tipped her off was the way his existence fluttered in between reality and illusion, like a ghost, or... a shadow. Is it...? But it's been a while since she's seen the Sheikah man, and it wouldn't be the first time she's imagined things that weren't actually there. If he was whom she believed, he would reveal himself in time. Searching the ship wouldn't take very long, and then she could go on a search of her own.

There's a long hallway with cabins at the bottom of the stairs. She glances at Raven, then places her palm along the wall. A shadow streaks along the walls from her hand, saturating the walls and floors, sneaking through the cracks of the doors on a hunt for any signs of life.

OoC: What have I found, ZV? Hopefully for us, nothing

"Wait," Raven whispered, hopefully before Arrika could get too far ahead of her. "Let's split up and search the cabins. If you find anyone, don't kill them unless you have too." Suddenly Raven realized that she was talking to Arrika as if she were speaking to her idiot brother. It would have been just like him to run through those cabins like a thrill killer and possibly kill someone who knew these waters better than anyone else on board. She wasn't used to being partnered with anyone else and it was going to be difficult to recognize that not everyone behaved like him. "Not that I'd expect you to do that or anything. We just can't afford to kill anyone that might be useful to us. We can meet back up when we are finished looking around, and if we found anyone, the two of us put together should be enough to incapatize... incapacify... take them captive."

OOC: Part of the reason I made Raven (and Raptor) only nine years old was so I can get away with making mistakes that only nine year-olds are dumb enough to make.

Kuro Rinku wrote:"Hey Cap'n, do you have anything to drink?"

Taint's eyes shot open as he dropped the piece of Cucco he was holding and stumbled out of his chair. "Oh, jeez, drinks! How could I forget that?" He jogged across the room and disappeared through the saloon doors. After a few moments he reemerged from the kitchen holding four massive pitchers, each full of a different liquid. He was carrying them expertly however, which was another oddity, as the Zora didn't seem professional in any other way. He put the pitchers down in the middle of the table and pointed to them one after the other. "This one is Deku Wine, this one here is rum, a pirates favorite. This here is sparkling soda, and the last one here is water! Sorry guys, I haven't done this in a while!" He briskly walked across the room and disappeared through the double doors again, this time emerging with a tray full of glasses. He distributed them to those gathered, and left glasses even for Thief and Thief jr. who left before the food was served.

He sat back down cleared his throat. "Another order of business," he began. "We can make the voyage in two nights if we continue at this speed. However, we'll also be passing by Everbreeze Island on the way!" He announced in a cheery tone. "It's a fun little island with lots to do, beautiful girls, gambling, and dancing! There's always a bunch of cheery folk around those parts, and beds for the night are cheep! I expect that everyone'll want to stretch their land legs, especially those who aren't used to travel by boat." He held up his map and pointed to the island. "We'll be approaching the island around noon tomorrow. If you guys want to stop for the day and sleep for the night, we can continue the voyage the next morning! Just an option open to those who don't want to beeline it straight to Gossip Isle."

* * *

Arrika's shadow spreads through the many cabins along the hallway with expert perception. Life forces are instantly detected, but none big enough to be human. It would seem that in these cabins...

Two small life forces (more than likely mice).
One larger life force... Not big enough to be human... Too large to be a mouse...

In any case, the life form was in a chair inside of the fourth cabin to the left.

* * *

Out on deck is nice right now. Not too hot, not too cold, and a nice breeze is supplied by the winds that blow across the boat. White puffy clouds float around in the sky, and all was well. Or at least all would be well, if there wasn't something shining in Alpha's eye. Something down in the water shimmered brightly. Upon closer inspection Alpha would realize that it was a bottle.

But why bother with a bottle? Litter was common in the ocean. Pirates, party ships and the like. However, there was something interesting about the container that floated on by. There seemed to be a rolled up piece of paper sealed safely inside by a cork that was nestled in the neck of the bottle.

OOC: Oh, the suspense!
FYI, no pressure for long posts everyone. This is only for funzees. You'll notice that some of my posts in this topic are short too.

She makes a noncomittal grunt to Raven's comments- she's not being rude, she's just concentrating.

Rodents- sniffy, squinty, scratchy, bitey little things- were all the Sheikah thief could sense. Except for...

One of her shadows has found something, something much larger than a mouse... she trails her fingers against the wall, stalking silently down the hall and stopping at the fourth cabin on the left side. She motions to Raven- no sense in splitting up to chase down vermin, now that a real target was found.

She twists the knob of the door expertly so that it opened with very minimal noise, but left it open just a crack for Raven. She didn't need to enter the cabin physically, through the door, and instead Shadowmelded her way in. The room is coated in black from her shadows, which swarmed around the room and had infiltrated every inch of space, causing the furniture to give off a ghostly glow. Her shadows are concentrated on a single chair, and unless the being in the chair had any supernatural powers, it shouldn't be able to sense her as she's become part of the pulsing dark flood.

Yukie nodded as the Zora filled them in on their options. "Hm, that's a tough choice indeed!" he quips as he mulls over the possibilities. One route sounds fun, but should he really support in the indulgence of something with such qualities? The other would get the job done much quicker, but it lacked the enjoyment that other options could provide . . .

Well, it took him a few moments of heavy contemplation, but at last he nodded and reached forward. "Think I'll have to go with water few now."

Oh, right! The Everbreeze issue! That one didn't take much thought at all . . . mostly 'cause he had no real opinion on the matter himself. Enjoyin' oneself when possible was always a good thing to do, 'specially while on a mission - such oppertunities were scarce. The items Cap'n had listed didn't really appeal to a Deku of his age, though. 'Beautiful girls' likely meant Hylians or Humans, and young 'uns too - being old didn't make him a pervert, nor did he find other races attractive in the manner more human-like races did. Gamblin' and dancing weren't his pastimes o' choice neither. And he hadn't really felt seasick or off-balance yet . . . so stayin' on the ship weren't a terrible fate.

"I'll go whichever way y'all decide," he stated between bites of salad and sips of water, still grinning wide at the excellent food. "Don't make no difference ta me!"

* * *

Standing at the bow of the ship, Alpha surveyed the vast ocean before him with a bit of relief . . . as well as melancholy. He'd been out on the seas of the world many times in his life . . . but it had always been with an air of fear surrounding the voyage. Fear of the Hakiems attacking them at sea when he was with Master Zaris. Fear of the unknown future that awaited the lone boy at whatever destination he'd chosen after he left his Master. Fear of His creatures rising from the black depths to consume them at any moment . . .

It was nice to, for once, be able to relax while on the water.

A bit of light reflected up into his eyes all of a sudden, causing him to wince - he was Sheikah, after all. Eyes that could see in the dark hurt far more than normal humans' when exposed to brightness of any magnitude. He turned his attention downwards, in time to catch sight of a bottle with something inside it passing by their speeding vessel. He hesitated, curiosity aroused but struggling to convince him of the need to retrieve it.

Finally, he gave in - it couldn't hurt, could it? Just a bottle with something inside - probably one of those cliche messages in a bottle. A little bit of magic was all he needed to have the water beneath the bottle geyser upwards, depositing the glass container at the Sheikah's feet. He glanced below, wondering how many people were sensitive enough to have felt that magic usage, or to have heard the sound of the bottle landing on wood. Well, he had said he'd reveal himself eventually . . . if this was anything important, he might as well do so now.

He reached down to see what the message said . . .

Arrika slips into the room completely undetected as planned. However what she finds isn't threatening at all... Well, most of the time anyway. The ship's cat was hunched up in the chair watching the anomaly take place in her room. She was a black and white tabby, and she was quite shocked at what was happening around her. Not much to worry about unless you're a mouse. However in the room was also a few valuable looking gems in a box on the table near the entrance. The thieves were already benefiting from the voyage!

* * *

Alpha's crimson eyes scan over the message...

"Alas, it seems this is my last week on this horrible island. I cannot go on much longer without food and fresh water. I can only hope that someone finds this message and rescues me from this Din-Forsaken island. I leave to whomever finds this, all the money that I have left in my pockets. It is surely of no use to me here on this lonely island..."

Sincerely, Moe

Enclosed was a red rupee, and a purple rupee.

There's no way to better boost a man's morale than putting his little ragtag team against a much larger, swarthier mob. There is also no way to better shoot that man out of the sky in his masculine glory than having the confrontation end in a fairly anticlimactic escape. An anti-tyranny roar devolved into a whimper of self-conciousness as Saber stood in dramatic fashion before dozens of pirates whose judging eyes seemed much sharper than their swords. He covered his arms shyly and slinked away.

And suddenly feast.

Everyone (save Yukie, of course) took off into the cabin, and the mercenary was now faced with the classic "Square cart, rectangle door" conundrum. After much banging, cursing, and exploitation of the fact that his troubles existed only in text and had no tangible, physical limitations, the nomad squeezed the cart through the door and whoops look there's a staircase.

Needless to say, as Sabertache lay at the bottom of the staircase, the still upright vegetable cart perched above him with the mockingly perfect tomatoes sitting in perfect order like the little pricks they were, he began to question the decisions in his life which led him to this point. He also began to wonder why he thought so often in run-on sentences, and whether or not he might be just a tad self-absorbed about this whole adventure.

His cheeks were competing with the veggifruits' crimson hue as he struggled out from under the cart. When he finally extricated himself, bringing the cart to sit in a corner of the room to observe the party while its charges looked down their figurative noses at the lot, he thought in yet another run-on sentence that it would be a good idea to try and get these tomatoes off of his hands as soon as possible, and into those of a certain aquatic grunt clumsier than he. However, the best salesmen were tactful, subtle...

"Yeah, the Everbreeze place sounds nice. Oh, speaking of nice...I bet...these tomatoes are edible. Like the food we're eating."

OOC: AM I RUINING THINGS YET

'Yeah . . . this is about as cliched as they come.'

He glanced at the money enclosed as well.

'Though I can't complain about the payment.'

Alpha loosed a sigh as he studied the note a bit further, trying to tell its age - if it had been written months in the past, there was no point pursuing this matter any further. No doubt the writer was already long gone in that event, but . . . he lifted his eyes to the heavens. "But you just love to throw these sorts of things in our laps, don't you?"

He sighed again and returned his focus back to earth. If it was written recently enough for the note's author to still be alive, this island of his would have had to have been relatively close. He glanced at the crow's nest, then back to the note and bottle . . .

Well, time to make his presence known. Figures. He'd wanted to stay anonymous for a day, at least. They couldn't have been underway for more than an hour or two!

Striding over to the doors below deck, Alpha replaced the note inside the bottle, redoing the cork loosely, but enough to keep it on and the note inside. He even put the Red Rupee back - but the Purple one he slid into his own wallet. Then, he hauled back and hurled the note at the bottom of the staircase with all of his might. Before it could hit the ground and shatter, he had already turned and started climbing the center mast.

Arriving in the crow's nest, he swiftly peered out across the horizon for any sign of islands . . .

* * *

"Didj'all just hear somethin'?" Yukie said as he glanced back towards the hall leading to the stairwell to the deck. "Sounded like glass!" Not knowing who had caused it, the Deku's hands instantly went to his blades.

Still, he waited for Cap'n or one of the others to confirm that he weren't just hearin' things before moving out.

OOC: I'm going on a retreat for the weekend. Won't be able to post until Sunday afternoon. See y'all then!

Raven was surprised when Arrika motioned her over. Had she found something already? She crept along the wall, staying in the shadows and approached the door that Arrika just disappeared through. She'd always heard that Sheikah had freakish abilities, and that had to be one of them. Raven pushed the door open, just barely enough to slip through so it wouldn't creak.

What she saw when she entered the room astounded her. There were shadows dancing around the room, and she guessed it had something to do with what the Sheikah was doing. She started to dread the day she got hired to kill one of those people. They seemed focus on a certain spot in the room: a chair. Was someone in it? Raven drew her knife and squinted to see what was shrouded in the darkness surrounding the chair. It was...

"A fracking cat?" she mouthed.

Suddenly she heard a loud crash, most likely shattering glass. She would have dismissed it as someone in the mess hall being careless if it hadn't been for a series of other strange noises, those consisting of repetitive thuds. It was too suspicious sounding to not investigate. She left the room as quickly as she had entered it, still exploiting the darkness of the ship as best she could, and headed toward the source of the breaking glass.

The Sheikah sighs wearily and comes out of her Shadowmeld, appearing in front of... a cat? All the shadows in the room retract towards her body, disappearing beneath her feet. She picks up the cat and strokes it. "Poor thing..." she coos, then surveys the rest of the room. A glint catches her eye, and by the door, in a box, is a small pile of gems. She grins and scoops them up quickly, and luckily for her, Raven's run off towards the sound of falling glass. "Sharp ears," she comments to herself, but doesn't leave the room immediately like the younger thief- the noise was loud enough to alert everyone else, and there was no need to-

-It was him! She freezes in the same way she did when she descended the stairs to the cabins, then races topside.

And there, at the crow's nest of the ship, is a familiar Sheikah man. "Alpha...?" She blinks a few times from looking up at the harsh daylight, which is a great contrast to the dim cabins below. She's so entranced she doesn't realize she's let the cat slip out of her arms, or notice that she passed the source of the noise- the broken bottle with the stray red rupee. She hesitates, confirming that she's hasn't just imagined it all, then takes a few steps back before sprinting forward towards the mast of the crow's nest. She runs up the side instead of using the ladder, with long, measured strides, climbing higher and higher without the use of her hands. She perches on the edge once she reaches the top, but her balance is perfect. He looks the same: tall, lean, and mysterious... and the last time she saw him was before she killed-

-no, she doesn't want to remember that anymore, and she shoves the memory aside.

"Alpha. I didn't know you were coming."

Taint cocked his head at Saber's sales pitch. "You know, a tomato sounds lovely right now. I'll buy the cart off you, let me just get my-" He was cut off by the sound of glass shattering. Taint jumped out of his chair at the sound of the glass shattering and swallowed the food in his mouth. "What was that?" There was clearly a tone of concern in his voice as he stared in the direction of the sound. He leaped out of his chair and ran across the meal hall. He tossed open the doors and saw nothing. Continuing down the hallways, he came to a stop in front of the younger thief, Raven. She was looking over what looked to be a shattered bottle. A red rupee sat on the floor next to a note on the floor. The Zora knelt down and picked up the note reading over it carefully. He'd never been so confused. Where did it come from? How did it get here inside the ship's interior? He stared towards the top of the stairs. The doors were open- it had to be Arrika- she was the only one on board not accounted for. He took off up the stairs to see what the big idea was.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he looked around for anyone on deck. Not a single soul on board. He gritted his teeth wondering what the hell was going on. Suddenly, he snapped his attention to the crow's nest. Arrika was perched on the railing, but for what reason? The Zora cupped his hands to his mouth and called out to her, "Hey, Arrika! What's the big idea throwing a bottle down the stairs? What if someone had been walking by? What are you doing up there?" He shook his head and jogged towards the ladder. He began climbing and after a few moments reached the top. Almost out of breath, he rested his elbows on the floor of the crow's nest. "Arrika, Wha-" the sea-striding nomad cut his sentence short as he noticed the stranger. He was tall, and had his back turned to him. He kicked off of the ladder and flipped into the crow's nest, one hand vaulting him over, the other drawing his blade. He held his sword to the stranger's back with a ferocity not often seen in the Zora. "So one of them stuck around after all eh? And Boone of all people." He kept his sword towards the pirate as he spoke.

"Boone... We don't want to fight you. I know you don't want to fight me. If you can be peaceful until we get to Everbreeze, I'll have you dropped off there, nice and easy. You..." He stopped for a moment as he analyzed the situation. Boone was tall and lean, yes... But not this reserved. Not this calm- ever. "You're... You're not Boone... Who are you?"

"I can tell you who he's not. An enemy."

The voice came from no where. Taint put his weapon away with this. "Alright, I'll trust you on this. You must know each other then right?" The Zora asked, still shaken by the stranger. He gave off a strong aura, obviously a magic user. Taint's worst foes were mages. He certainly didn't want to tangle with this one- the vibe made him uneasy.

"We know enough about each other. Names and temperaments."

The voice spoke again.

"Gotcha." Taint replied, the stranger's back still turned to him. "Thanks. I'm glad you were on top of things."

"It's what you're paying me for. Long time no see, Sheikah. Where is it exactly that you disappear to all the time?"

There was a shadow blacker than the rest under the roofing structure that sat over the crow's nest. A familiar samurai melded half way out of the shadow.

"I should have known you'd be along for this. Surely you know the heritage of Gossip Isle..."

Taint nodded to the samurai. "I think I've met him once or twice before, come to think of it. Was it you who threw this down the stairs, Mr.Sheikah?"

OOC: I'm assuming everyone'll be on deck in the coming posts.

Yukie raced to the bottom o' the stairs alongside Taint, his suspicions confirmed upon the Zora's reaction to whateva the Dark World that noise had been. Upon arriving he was confronted by the sight of shattered glass spread all over the ground - a scene that surprised 'im indeed. Unlike the others, he knew who musta done this: it hadta of been Alpha; the Sheikah wouldn't of let anuther person past 'im to hurl the bottle downstairs. And it must've been thrown down; if it had just happened to find its way inside the doors and rolled down these here stairs, the glass wouldn't have shattered nearly so much.

But the mystery would be why the Sheikah was already drawin' attention to himself . . . it coulda been a game for anyone else - make the crew think they'd stolen a downright haunted vessel! - but not for Alpha. He weren't the kind o' guy to enjoy messin' with people that way.

Course, that mystery was solved quickly enough too - he just hadta snatch the note from Cap'n's fingers as he walked up 'n out.

* * *

They responded with the efficiency he'd expected of Adventurers, though it pained him somewhat to realize how short a time window he'd had at anonymity. For the short time they'd been sailing, it had been quite refreshing to simply stare out across the sea without a care in the world . . . okay, so it hadn't been that peaceful. With his life and lifestyle, it never could be. But this had been, he imagined, as close as he'd ever again come to such tranquility. No one bothering him, just being alone with nature . . . all he'd had to do, really, was keep a constant mental eye on the auras of those below deck so that if anyone tried to come upstairs again he could hide in the shadows once more.

He was still keeping that mental eye trained on them as his physical gaze cast itself across the horizon in search of a possible origin point for that note, so he sensed one of them approaching even before he heard them. The speed allowed him to deduce the incoming's identity - either that young girl he was unfamiliar with, or -

"Alpha. I didn't know you were coming."

- or Arrika.

He paused from his search for a moment, forcing a smile to his face as he turned towards her. She looked much the same as before, though there was a certain . . . hauntedness in her aura now. A feeling of some turmoil in her soul. He couldn't know the reason behind it, but he could sense it clearly - after all, he'd felt the same thing many times over the years. Ultimately, he had always been forced to press through such struggles; he had no way to react to her tumult but to leave it to her. So he simply nodded in greeting, replying, "Then Yukie has done his job well. Good to see you again."

The return to his search only lasted a moment, Taint arriving even as the Sheikah was trying to find the exact point on the horizon he had been searching before Arrika's distraction. Though . . . the Zora obviously did not recognize him, referring to Alpha as "Boone". Having just found the spot again he let the Zora blabber on, confident that he would sense any attacks made against him long before they hit.

His attempts to ignore did not last long.

"I can tell you who he's not. An enemy."

Jumping was not something Alpha ever did; even now, rather than freak out he instantly called a handful of poison darts to his hand. Had he not recognized the voice he'd have thrown them straight at its owner, and even so he was sorely tempted to hurl them anyway. His mental eye immediately focused itself upward - chastising himself all the while for keeping his mental eye focused solely below decks - and located a presence that he recognized at once. This was even more familiar than Arrika's aura.

"None of your business, Samurai," he replied at last to Dogura's query, his eyes narrowed and voice harsh and angry, sounding as though he was about to explode (he wasn't, of course, but the effect was what he was going for). "I go where I go to get away from people - something I was hoping to do for quite a while longer today." If Dogura had been on board and above deck as well, then by DIN he could have delivered the bottle to the others. A perfect chance to relax and recover from constant social interactions, ruined because the samurai was unwilling to show himself until now.

He slowly raised his right hand, it still holding the three poison darts from earlier. Rolling down his sleeve, he exposed the metallic holder which rested on his forearm; undoing a few clasps he opened the device and replaced the needles. They'd have been useless against Dogura, true, but it was important he see the slow and calculating motions. That he see how very much Alpha was still tempted to make use of these against the man. Ally or not, at this moment the Sheikah was rather pissed off at the samurai. So much so that he almost - almost - didn't file the 'Gossip Isle' comment into his brain.

Ah, so that's where this expedition was headed. Very interesting . . .

She flinches inwardly at his coldness, then berates herself. What had she been expecting? Maybe a "how have you been?" or "what have you been up to lately?" ...but this was Alpha, and that was bordering on the impossible. His smile was obviously fake, and she began to regret coming up here at all and making a fool of herself.

"Yukie... the Deku?" she says, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. "How do you know that little guy- hey! Taint?! What are you doing?!"

The crow's nest was never really meant to hold more than one person, and two slim Sheikahs was already a squeeze. Their Zora Captain seemed to have mistaken Alpha for someone else.

There was a fourth aura now, one she could not quite place, and her eyes widened at the sight of Alpha's poison darts.

"None of your business, Samurai."

Samurai...?

"I go where I go to get away from people - something I was hoping to do for quite a while longer today."

Alpha put the deadly weapons away, but thief wasn't wholly relieved. She's somewhat irked at Taint for appearing so suddenly, when all she wanted was a few moments alone with the other Sheikah. She isn't sure whether he was annoyed with just Taint and this invisible "samurai", or if he couldn't stand her presence either. A bit hurt, she turns and sighs softly, drawing her cloak around herself and staring out at the sea.

"You think old veterans would be happy to see one another... But I guess I shouldn't have expected more than a dismissal."

Taint took a step back as the darts appeared in Alpha's hand. Suddenly they disappeared again. The Zora frowned at him. "Whoever you are... I don't appreciate your attitude. I don't know much about you myself, but I trust my friend here."

"Don't use the word 'friend' so freely. You offered quite a sum of money... I'd have been a fool to turn down such an offer."

Taint shook his head. "In any case, I'll leave you for all for now." He began his descent down the ladder, but not before a few parting words. "Oh, and Sheikah... If you hurt anyone on this boat, I'll run my sword through you. Odds against me as they may be, I'll find a way." With that, he slid down the ladder.

Dogura's eyes shifted uncomfortably towards Alpha.

"Sorry about him. An ambitious one, the Zora. In any case, I can tell you don't want company. I don't think I can hold back the tears any more, so I'll just go ahead and leave you be... Oh, and by the way... You'd do well not to threaten me again. You aren't the only one who's been changing..."

With that, the samurai disappeared into the shadow, and then disappeared altogether. Tensions were high in the crows nest for a few moments there- all the more reason Taint was happy to be out of there. He called together a small assembly on the deck.

"If I could have everyone's attention!" He called out waving the note around in the air. "I got a note from someone who needs help!" He didn't deliver the message well, but what could one expect from the nomad. He read the note out loud and looked up at his crew. "This note could be unspeakably old. I have no way of dating it, or finding out where it came from."

"I might be able to help with that." Came a voice from directly behind Taint. The Zora jumped, a little peeved about how his hired sword could appear and disappear at will. Dogura held the note and scrutinized it. "This parchment... It's made from Pinto Palm Tree bark. I can tell this because of the way it smells. The fact that it retained its scent could be proof that it's not very old... That or the bottle is very well crafted." He handed the note back to Taint and walked towards the side of the boat.

"Pinto Palm trees aren't common in this area. If we find an island with that particular type of tree, it'll likely be the source of the plea for help." Taint stood there dumbfounded. "I... Wow, Mr. Smarty pants. How can I trust you about all of that?" Dogura didn't like that word. Trust was a word being thrown around a lot on the boat, and honestly it irked him. "Trust me or don't damn you! It's your call!" Without a shadow to slip away into, he was forced to stand there all eyes upon him. He didn't like it one bit.

"I... Well... What do we do guys? This boat is a democracy after all..." Taint asked waving the note in the air. "It could be a trap for all we know..."

OOC: Jesus, my posts are getting longer. I need to take a break