Big Oaf, Bigger Problems (LET Jygust 30th)

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 7:27 pm

Frank approached the stone office where he'd just been hired earlier. Beside him trotted the noble looking fellow that had just found him this afternoon. He didn't know why the man was so serious. Frank knew about the situation at hand, but not in as much detail as Quinlan (he might not be able to do as much with the information had he been given it anyway). Frank wasn't scared because he felt he was in no danger. He wasn't a merchant, he wasn't even a sailor or a guard, and he wasn't an easy target. Upon hearing the gravity of this case, he realized that his involvement might be needed for those reasons. Now, only twelve marks later, he knocked on the door of the office from a completely different world of thought.

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:29 pm

Quinlan was not far behind, though he did keep a few paces distance. Frank was a hard man to miss, and the two were even more obvious if they were huddled together. The idea was to await the arrival of the shipment coming in during the gravetide, and if they were very lucky, spot one of the mysterious raiders in the act. If they scared them off, it wouldn't do much good in the long run.

Frank seemed a personable man. Originally, Quinlan had thought he'd prefer to go it alone, but he was getting used to the idea of extra eyes and hands. If things went bad, it would be hard to ask for better backup than the half giant.

"Oh, by the way, I doubt it makes much difference to you," he mentioned to Frank, "but Navirez gave me pick of his weapons if I ask for them. Do speak up if you think there's something you could use."

Nago the horse had been left in the same stables as earlier that day, hopefully safe and out of the way. With all the walking about the city, questioning this person and that with mixed results, Quinlan was looking forward to propping himself up for a mark or two and mulling things over. If Navirez or James were still there, Quinlan and Frank could tell them they had arrived, and maybe find out which mark the ship was expected.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:56 pm

James was leaning on the outside wall of the stone building as they approached. He held his pipe in his mouth with his hand and he glanced over at the two approaching. "Welcome back, kids. Let's get this together. Sorihn, you can keep your information to yourself until the debriefing later this evening. For now, you'll both be working with me."

He held a weapon that Quinlan might have noticed was on Navirez's wall earlier in the day. It was some sort of long pole and a iron-spiked ball combination. Except, the iron-spike ball was on a chain and attached to the pole. According to Navirez it was all for show, for James Vassaille is far too much of a coward to actually put himself in harm's way- despite his rugged appearance.

There were few workers around. The word of disappearing employees had people calling off the night shift left and right. As these three men knew, the next set of goods was scheduled to arrive in just a mark.

James turned and started to walk towards the docks, but he stopped. "You guys have anything you need from here, before we get started on the plan?"

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:40 pm

Hmm, I could always use a bigger hammer... No, I hardly think that's necessary. Frank saw the flail in James's hand and then looked at his own grappling hook on his belt. No... That would be stupid, best not get any ideas. "I think I got ev'ry thin I'm gonna need. What do you need me to do?" He looked at the horseless horseman again. That man looks like he's seen a mess or two, wouldn't know it from looks but I might be better off following his lead. Heaven knows he looks a lot smarter than me. He wove a small part of the rope on his grappling hook through his belt, as he did every time he worked near or on the ships. He fell in the water a lot due to his tendency to bound where baby steps are needed, and though he was a decent swimmer, he had a problem with sinking. It was actually easier for him to throw his hook over the side of a boat and climb up to the top than it was to swim to the shore (the dock was high enough above the water at times that it was hard to reach even for a mass like Frank).

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:52 am

That's right, the Captain did say James would be along, didn't he? Quinlan thought, looking askance at the thick man with his long flail. Does he really expect to need that?

"I don't think there's anything I need, either," he answered. Quinlan still wore the same as he had earlier in the day: puffy linen shirt, belt, leggings, boots, and of course, his sword. He had thought to retrieve some other equipment from the Sorihn home where he stayed, but he didn't expect any heavy sort of combat.

It seemed rather peaceful at the Waterworks, in fact. With most of the men gone, and the sun no longer broiling the city, the sea breeze and creaking timbers would have made a good end to the day. That is, if there wasn't so much more shady work to be done.

Looking out into the darkness over the water as they followed James, he didn't immediately realize he was being spoken to.

"Oh, hm? Right... for now, we're more or less waiting for our ship to come in. When it does, we'll look it over to see that everything's in tact." And if it isn't, he thought, we'll be the first to see the evidence and talk to the crew. In truth, he wasn't sure which to hope would happen.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:26 pm

James was not very observant, but who could blame him for feeling comfortable in the place where he'd worked all his life? He didn't notice but the masts and sails all around them seemed to move eerily in the night time. The big, dark hulk of a merchant ship could be seen on the horizon, slowly approaching the dock that James led them out onto. "This'll be the folks we want to talk to here. But keep your heads on straight, if we fuck up, we could die."

And he stood by the porting area patiently waiting for the ship to arrive, with his flail hidden behind his back. "You never know what to expect, so be cautious, mates."

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:04 pm

Frank tossed another glance at the fancy looking man. I was asking my captain... I know we're waiting for the boat. The guy has barely caught his breath running into my line of work and he's already telling me what to do. He looked back at James and grinned again. Who am I kidding? James isn't going to talk to me. I suppose Fancy Man is the best I'm going to get for conversations. At least he's taking this seriously. He rolled his head around slowly and looked at the yard. A chill went down his spine when he saw everything moving, as if the yard itself were breathing, but then he relaxed. It did that during the day too, there's no reason this place should be creepy during the night.

As the ship approached, he noticed that was a much creepier sight. Out of the darkness it seemed to materialize out of nothing, and it moved fluidly. Once again, he didn't let it bother him because it'd move the same way during the day. The only difference is that it's dark outside. Even though his size doesn't give him the right to be fearless regarding something as gigantic as a ship, his attitude reflected a complete disregard for worry. After all, all worrying does is get in the way. If you can see past that, you can make better decisions. Still, something in the night was giving him an uncomfortable feeling, and he didn't feel entirely prepared for it. He stood behind James and Quinlan to avoid standing out too much, thinking that if he was close to his comrades (who were both very tall as well) he might not appear threatening. This, however, was about as effective as a cat hiding behind a candle.

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:16 am

Quinlan, too felt a chill. But the ships themselves were not frightening. The movement in the dark brought other images to mind.

It had been weeks since he had felt any real fear of the dark. But the impression the living darkness of Terra Nova had left could be felt even now. The roll of a ship in the corner of his eye, the ripple of its sail against the night sky, in those things he could once again imagine the clawing, wailing dark...

He briefly closed his eyes, casting aside those memories. Those events were behind him, left on the other side of the world even if the memories were not.

Arms crossed, he waited for the ship to approach, turning his head every so often to check on things nearby.

"Should they not have more light on deck?" he quietly asked. "Some sort of signal?"

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:28 am

The night air was cool, and the breeze offered a shiver to both Quin and Frank. James waited patiently and the ship was growing ever closer when Quinlan made a remark about the lights on the ship.

"That is strange, lad. There's a likely chance that they are just trying to avoid contact with the thieves of the sea. An unillumined ship is darn hard to find, let alone raid."

A small blue bird flew down and landed on James' shoulder, but he batted it away and smacked it off. It fell to the ground and shook off the hit, ruffling it's feathers. "Hey! That wasn't nice," shouted a little girl's voice- except it wasn't a little girl, it was coming from the bird. James just stared at the thing as if it was possessed at this point.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:59 am

Frank looked at the ship coming in indifferently. He thought nothing of the lack of lighting on the ship, for he'd never seen a ship at night. James' explanation made sense though, so he wouldn't worry anyway. When the little bird flew in on his shoulder, Frank was astounded. Why would such a cute little animal perch on such a miserable sour fellow?! His questioning was justified when James smacked the poor thing onto the ground. When he did so, Frank jumped, and his mouth gaped with an expression of grave injustice on his face. The look of pity turned into a gaping shock when the bird began to speak. James wasn't saying anything, so Frank decided to ask first.

"You can talk? You... You can... er... talk?" Frank shot an even angrier look at James, though he dare not talk on it. He didn't want to get fired on his first day. The only thing worse than hurting a cute defenseless bird is hurting a cute defenseless TALKING bird!

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:35 am

Quinlan looked toward the approaching ship. He wanted to accept the explanation James had given, but his nerves wouldn't quite let him.

Fixated on the ship in the dark, he didn't notice the goings on behind him until the girl's voice called out. Eyebrows raised in surprise, he turned and looked for her. What was a little girl doing at the Waterworks? At night?

"Where did she go?" Of course, he didn't see any girls. Until he followed the stares of the other two men, he didn't see the small bird. "Wait.. no," he said, unbelieving. He glanced up at Frank's face, then at James.

Bending down with his hands on his knees, he took a closer look at the bird. He would have been sure he was being tricked, but he heard the voice plain as anyone, and the idea that the burly James or the massive Frank could have faked it was almost as unbelievable.

"This is where that voice came from?"

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:01 pm

James just stared at this creature, as if expecting a fireball to spit out of it. The bird raised one of her feet into her plumage, and now appeared to have just one leg. "Do you fellas work for Captain Navirez?" She asked, and she began to twitch her wings, as if preparing to take off again.

"I need to know."

James didn't think it important to give the bird his two cents. Was that it? Or was he afraid of it? It was hard to tell, but he seemed to be trembling a bit, and his lip was quivering. Swiftly, he turned to face away from it, and he focused on the incoming ship.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:46 pm

Frank's look of shock turned into a big grin. I've never seen a more awesome messenger! This is so cool! He knelt down on the ground and lowered himself as close as he could to eye level with the small bird.

"We are indeed working for him, but why must you know? Are you a friend of his?" Frank waited eagerly for a response, with an unstoppable excitement. The oncoming ship became the last of his concerns.

Suddenly, his smile dissappeared. "Does this have anything to do with the dreary ship over there, or more importantly, the raids?" Now was the last time to get carried away by a little trifle- novel as it is- like a talking bird. There were important matters at hand, and he had to realize that.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:10 pm

The boat was stopped about 25 yards away from them, and there were still no lights aboard. The bird began to flap wildly as Frank answered her question. "Good! Good, that means you are the good ones! There's no time to talk! You've got to board that ship!" The blue bird hopped around madly and James raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell are ye talkin' about? There can't be nothin' that important, we're just doin' a checkup on the goods, is all. Stupid bird."

"No! No! There's something wrong, hurry hurry! You need to get on the ship! Ohhh OH!" She was spastically jumping around, and she swiftly took off, buzzing wildly away over the lake, going apparently nowhere but into open water. James looked up at Quinlan, and then over at Frank.

"Well, there's a lil' rowboat here we can take, if y'all two think we should be boardin' early." And he pointed to a dinghy that was tied off loosely at the dock, with two sets of oars and a harpoon gun fastened at the front.

"I don't like birds."

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:07 pm

A bird mimicking conversation was believable. But there could be little doubt this bird was holding conversation. It was hard to decide what to do about it. He thought hard, trying to come up with some explanation or example of what force was at work. But it was as much a first for him as it seemed for the others.

"'We're the good ones?'" he repeated. "So, is the... bird saying that she's seen others?"

Quinlan crossed his arms again and looked out at the boat. There was no reason he could think of for it to halt as it had. At least, not with the proper crew on board.

"Well, here is something I never expected to say, but I suppose we should listen to the bird," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "We're here already, I say we may as well head out there and see what's going on."

Quinlan started toward the rowboat. He - or his curiosity - had already decided that he was going. When a talking animal told you to do something, how could you ignore it?

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:11 pm

For a moment he listened to Quinlan reasoning, but Frank had already made up his mind to help the bird as soon as it spoke. The details and reasoning of the situation didn't matter anymore, he was convinced that he was going to act. Any thinking he wanted to do could be done on the ship. After all, they're only merchants right? They must be in danger!

"No time to talk? In that case, no time to row!" Frank ran down the dock, taking his heavy grappling hook in his hand, and he began whirling it around with about four feet of slack, hurling it hard, but not as hard as as he could (it was only 25 yards). He arched it toward the ship, putting his entire body in the toss. Time to earn my pay.

"Get in the boat," he then said, jumping onto the front of the dinghy. The grappling hook was still woven through his belt-loops, but he had over 50 meters of free slack. As it flew through the air, he kept his hand loosely around the rope so he could stop it when it flew over the edge of the ship, and pull it back to latch on.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:44 pm

James grunted at Frank's tomfoolery. "Are you going to spend the whole time goofing around, mate?" As Frank's grappling hook arced over toward the ship, it went way past its mark and got caught on one of the sails of the ship. "Well, whatever works..." He got into the rowboat and didn't oppose, and the bird nodded her head.

"Thank, you! Do make haste and board the ship, I'll meet you there!" She said and she looked over towards another dock, with wide horrified eyes. She swiftly took off towards that pier, shrieking, and two orcs could be seen looking at the ship, one with a spyglass and the other with a crossbow that he fired up into the air as the shriek startled him, making him miss his mark.

"Sorihn, you coming?" James cocked an eyebrow and grabbed two of the oars, wondering if he was even going to need them, with Frank's gung-ho nature. Is he planning on pulling the boat? The answer was obvious, but James was unfamiliar with young half-giants and just had to ask himself.

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:18 pm

Quinlan was on the boat almost before James had to ask. It seemed that he and Frank were mostly ignoring James at that point, simply doing what they felt was necessary. So far, James could hardly be blamed for his confusion, nor was he alone in it. But, the situation seemed to be growing in urgency, and Quinlan didn't take the time to humor him.

The idea of parleying with the talking bird, much less accepting its help, seemed wholly absurd. Quinlan lacked any historical context for the situation. Even the animals of Terra Nova, who had seemed rather intelligent, had never spoken to him. But, catching sight of the two orcs on another dock left no more room at that moment for pondering.

"They are here," he alerted, temper rising. "Let us hurry." Maybe it was not necessary, but he got into position behind Frank to help heave their rowboat along his rope.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:29 pm

As soon as the two jumped in, Frank anchored his feet against the front of the boat and leaned back, pulling hand over hand, racing toward the ship. When Quinlan alerted him of the presence of Orcs, he became all the more hasty to get on the boat. We've got to protect the merchants! As he pulled each segment of rope, he passed it behind his back into the arms of Quinlan, who helped speed the process. He pushed down on the front of the boat as each wave came; crashing through them instead of riding above. They didn't have time to teeter up and down. When they arrived below the ship, he paused for just a flicker. I don't know that the mast can support us... Thinking quickly, he pulled a hatchet out of his tool belt.

"No time to axe questions, we've got to board this boat." He heaved the hatchet into the side of the boat and used it to divert some weight from the rope. If this action succeeded, he would repeat with four more hatchets until he reached the top of the boat. Otherwise... I hope this thing can support my weight. And up he went.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:37 pm

It didn't take long at all for the three of them to reach the ship, with Quinlan and Frank pulling and James rowing. James did not notice the orcs, but he was startled by the shrieking Celeste. "Boy those jokes just aren't funny..." James rolled his eyes and he pulled on the rope as they arrived. "It'll be fine if we go one at a time, you ain't gettin up the side of the boat with them axes boy."

The axe just barely stuck into the curved side of the ship, but not nearly enough to support any weight. The rope was sturdy and climbable, although as they were climbing, the sail was steered in another direction as they did so, which was likely to draw attention to their arrival.

Quinlan Corodin · Post by **Quinlan Corodin** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:04 pm

"They may be on board already," Quinlan cautioned, more quietly than before. "I think we should head for the bow at first." Let's hope there aren't too many, he thought, keeping it to himself. The idea of swimming back to the docks in the dark was far from pleasant.

Without further ado, he took hold of the rope to haul himself up. His heart pounded as he tried to shimmy up its length, one hand, then the other, then his crossed legs. Grunting with the effort, he saw that the sail had not been the best place for the hook to catch. But, there was nothing for it.

His aim was to get just as high as the deck railing. Better to take a moment to listen, maybe even steal a peek, before hauling himself on board into waiting orc arms. If he didn't find himself face-to-face with raiders, then he could board, and cover the others while they ascended.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:17 pm

Frank had hoisted himself up the rope with his arms alone; he didn't even bother using his legs. When he reached the top, he shimmied to the side to allow Quinlan a space, where he climbed up and waited as well. They both sat and listened to try to hear something. However, Frank hadn't accounted for the forced adjustment of the sail. I wish that axe had stuck, he thought as he watched the consequences of his weight.

The boat began to turn, and to avoid being thrown into the water and run over by the massive turning ship, he hurled himself over the edge, crashing onto the deck. As soon as he recovered from the shock, he grabbed a hammer and drew it to eye level, darting his eyes around erratically, expecting to see an army of Orcs or a bunch of hostages. After hearing Quinlan's suspicion, Frank didn't know what to expect. At first he thought the only Orcs were on the shore, and he never would have imagined they'd already seized the boat. I should have hung on the rope... At least Fancy Man should be fine...

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:21 pm

As Frank launched himself onto the deck he somersaulted head over heels and regained his balance, throwing himself to his feet and looking around. What he saw was a large hulking orc facing the other direction, which matched his height and girth sufficiently. There was something sticking out of his back, however. It was a sword, covered in blood, and in front of the orc there was an abnormally tall but thin-figured male achadhiel, who held the sword in his hands, and stood bravely in front of a cowering woman, who appeared to be a very cute young adhiel lady.

James whispered hoarsely. "You could have been a bit more cautious, boy!" And almost on cue, a light turned on in the cabin, and the sound of several pairs of feet stamping against wood below the deck could be heard.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:31 pm

Locked for skilling.

Frank and Quinlan please continue here

Quinlan Skills:

*Knowledge [WaterWorks]
*Logical Analysis

New skill!

Climb walls/Scale sheer surfaces

Frank skills:

*Rope works
*Climb walls/Scale sheer surfaces