OOC: Accepted Mike, just have him stowaway or join either late at night or before they leave the next morning.

IC: It had been an interesting and productive day. A few new crew members – Sephara had briefed him in full later that evening – of which one was a former enemy. Kaltor Greycloak. Gabe brooded over that decision for a bit. He wasn’t one to hold a grudge, and the man and his sword arm would definitely be an asset, but he thought maybe he was too vulgar and brash for the rest of his crew. The man was a bonified pirate after all. Picturing Kaltor running amok on his ship made him laugh out loud, and then he decided to forget the matter.

When Meg arrived shortly before the tenth bell it was all the fanfare of a genuine princess. Well, not exactly, but she had several trunks and cases with her. He’d watched in mild amusement as her workers carried her things on board and stored them in the last two rooms – she’d needed one just for all the extra cases.

“Anything else we can do for you mi’lady,” he’d increased her rank to better mock her.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she’d played along, “Have the chef send some iced tea with lemon slices to my room. And maybe a light snack.” Her smile reminded him of freshly baked cookies, so indulgently intoxicating. Meg had said she’d come prepared to undertake the full quest, having brought along several tools that might be needed if the book was genuine. Gabe wasn’t paying much attention anyways, preferring more to watch the effect of the moonlight upon her hair. It was the feeling of swimming in a translucent brilliance.

Sephara hadn’t missed a thing though. “You’d better stay focused on the job.”

“She is the job my dear,” he rebutted.

“She’s a Vasseen.”

“Speak a language we both understand would you.”

With unflinching eyes Sephara said, “A harpy, a succubus. She preys on men and uses them.”

“Well she can use me anyway sh- OW! What was that for,” he rubbed the back of his head where her hand had hit.

“I’m being serious Gabe. Be careful around her. “That was her last warning. He’d grumbled something about her needing a man, yelled at the few crew members who had witnessed his humbling to restore some of his pride, and retired to bed.

With the morning sun came the start of a new adventure. Casting off from the port of Coral, the Dawn and her crew sailed away from the rising sun. Spirits were high as the job was, by most standards, simple and straight forward. Easy gold was a most welcome thing for this lot.

Days rolled by uneventfully. The crew entertained themselves by taking turns trying to be the first to bed the new women who’d joined them. It was more a game of fun than anything else, as friends laughed at each other’s misfortunes and follies. The ladies took it all with a grain of salt, male egos were ever the same. Kaltor was good to his word. Once a day he took the crew through lessons with a sword the watched as they did some friendly skirmishing. It was a fact that Gabriel would thank the Gods for only 5 days later.

.....

It was the middle of the fifth day and things were going as usual. The Dawn cruised the skies with only light clouds surrounding them. There was something about being in the middle of nothing that was both calming and distressing all at once. Blue skies above and blue waters below. Depending on your disposition it could be serene or maddening.

Gabe was enjoying a conversation with their new doctor, an enticing woman if he’d ever seen one, and a keen intellectual, as he piloted the ship. Her eyes never failed to drawn him in. There was something odd about her though. As friendly she’d been, Gabe had noticed she’d occasionally stare at nothing in particular and sometimes even make slight faces. Who was he to question the doctor though? He’d known a few brilliant minds in his time, and they nearly all had one or two screws loose upstairs.

Today they were talking about wines, and although he wasn’t by any means a professional, it was a subject near and dear to his heart. “Have you ever been to a vineyard?”

“Unfortunately no,” there was real regret in her voice, “I’ve always wanted to though.”

He chuckled, “I would have thought in your profession you’d of had some connections. You know, someone owing you a favour or two.” She smiled back at him.

“Well, I did take the doctor’s oath and all. I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to extort people,” she giggled a little and turned her attention to the aft, looking out across the empty sky.

Returning his gaze forward he continued on, “But seriously, even better, flying over a vineyard. Seeing the rows and rows of grapes is an absolute amazing sight to behold.”

“What’s that?” she said. He picked up a slight alarm in her voice like she didn’t understand.

“Well, you see, on Vineyard they grow the grapes-“

“No, no, no,” she scoffed, “I’m not talking about wine. What’s that?”

This time he turned around and saw she was pointing at something off in the distance. Squinting his eyes to see better he tried to pick up what she was pointing at but couldn’t. “Hold still for one minute.” He called one of the crewmen to take over and he picked up the spyglass that was always strapped to the aft railing and followed her hand to a spot in the sky where a small grey speck was.

The captain raised the spyglass to his eye, found his target, recoiled his head in surprise, then immediately looked through it again.

“What is it?” the alarm in her voice was heightened after seeing his reaction.

Gently removing his eye he turned to her slowly and said, “Trouble.”

Dashing off the back rail he ran directly opposite, to the rail above the main deck, and spotted his first mate as she was helping Xavier with the repair of a small wind turbine that turned a generator which powered some minor machinery. Leaning, his body almost fully over the rail he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Orcs!!! Prepare for battle!!!”

Chaos erupted like an anthill being crushed. Despite the flurry of activity that followed that seemed to have no rhyme or reason, there was method to the madness as the crew knew their duties well. Some of them did at least. He couldn’t be sure of the new arrivals.

He relieved the interim pilot and immediately began to push the ship upwards, deeper into the clouds. “Doctor,” he called, “Go to my cabin and get me my rapier and pistol. After that,” he cast her a solemn look, “It would be best to prepare for the worst.” He said it grimly so she’d know he was serious. During his career as a sailor he’d seen men die from nothing more than lack of preparation and he wasn’t going to make that mistake.

“Orcs?!?” Sephara’s tone was slightly disbelieving, “This far south?” She took the Spyglass found the raiding party Gabe had seen moments earlier. “Khutra Nom,” she swore in her tongue, “There’s at least 8 Rocs and 3 Thunderbrids.”

“It could be worse,” he managed a weak chuckle, “There’ll be two riders to every bird. The Thunderbirds will be carrying Shamans. Best get Cyradis ready. Those things like to shoot lightning.”

“I thought this was supposed to be an easy job,” he heard her yell as she practically jumped down the stairs.

So did I Seph, so did I.

OOC: Alright everybody, let the fun begin. Feel free to start the attack. As mentioned in the post, there's 22 Orcs in all, and 3 Shamans. Each bird carries 2 riders, the one controlling the bird and the fighter. The 3 Thunderbrids carry shamans who can cast basic magicks and those birds themselves can shoot lightning.

In an air battle you're trying to kill the crew, not destroy the ship. Destroying the ship means destroying the loot obviously. The ship is armed with 2 boltcasters, fore and aft, that can pivot and act like big crossbows spraying 8-10 heavy bolts at a time.

Let's kill some Orc!