Chapter 105: Meeting New People

Jadis had never been on a ship before. With movies being her only reference for the experience, the reality wasn’t exactly what she had expected. From the outside, The Silver Breeze was a large, three masted vessel that looked like it had sailed right out of a pirate film. The only thing it lacked were cannons, though it did have two large ballistae on both the prow and stern each. Overall, given the size of the ship, Jadis had thought there would be plenty of room to roam and take in the sights of the coast as they passed it all by.

As it turned out, space was at a premium. Dozens of sailors were constantly running across the crowded deck of the ship, pulling on ropes, climbing rigging, carrying things around that Jadis had no rightly idea what their purpose was. There was a continuous, almost dizzying buzz of activity as the working men shouted out to each other, constantly communicating what they were doing or acknowledging the orders of the captain or other officers in charge, men who were also shouting at the top of their lungs to be heard over the hustle and bustle. There wasn’t much room on the deck for a lone person to stand without getting in the way, a difficulty made far worse for Jadis.

“Not the best view, is it?” Dys said mildly, staring out of one of the portholes in the cramped section of crew quarters she had claimed.

“No, not really,” Aila agreed without looking, flipping a page in her book.

“Could be a lot worse,” Kerr interjected from where she swung lazily in a hammock, “Could be a storm. Then we’d be rocking all over the place, rolling through our own puke, soiling ourselves too, cause good luck trying to take a shit or a piss over the side of a ship when you’re caught in a gale.”

“Um, if you would, please don’t use such vulgar language. Or at least don’t talk about those sorts of vulgarities at this present time,” Eir pleaded from her spot on the floor.

Jadis couldn’t help but shake her heads in pity at the poor elf. If the red skinned woman could turn green with sickness, Jadis was certain she would have already.

Since there was no room up top, Jadis had been forced to stick to the deck below in a section that was meant to serve as a communal sleeping space for crewmen. Considering the ceiling was barely tall enough for Aila, there was no way Jadis could do more than sit or lie down in the cramped quarters. She couldn’t even use the hammocks, sadly, since they were meant for people much smaller than her.

Since she had to go down below, so, too, did Aila. Eir followed as well, which didn’t surprise Jadis, but Kerr had also joined them. Jadis didn’t mind the extra company at all, or at least she wanted to say that, but her entire eight-man guard escort led by Ealdread also chose to stay below, as too did the ten-man crew of workers who were meant to dismantle and transport the enchanted cauldron from the workshop in Alawar onto the ship. Then there were the half-dozen Stenger and Son’s guards who were meant to keep the ship safe and secure as well as the five other independent mercenaries that had been hired on just like her.

All in all, the crew quarters were feeling a bit full.

She could put up with the vague sense of claustrophobia the lower deck was giving her though. According to the ship’s captain, a stern-looking gnome named Kruckel, they would be at their destination in about six hours. A far faster trip than if they had gone by land as even by horseback it would have taken a couple days going one way at a minimum, likely longer still going at a wagon’s speed. Jadis didn’t mind not being able to properly stretch her legs for a few hours if it meant shortening their trip by a week at least. One thing she wasn’t willing to put up with, though, was any seasickness.

“What kind of ‘vulgarities’ do you mean? Can I say ‘vomit?’ What about ‘regurgitation?’ That’s more a medical kind of term, I think. Ooh, how about ‘spewing chunks’, can I say that?”

Before Kerr could further goad the nauseous priestess into losing her breakfast, Syd reached over and put a hand over the crude therion’s mouth.

“If you keep that up and make her puke down here, I promise I’m going to pick you up and use you like a rag to clean the mess,” Syd informed Kerr with quiet sincerity.

When Syd pulled her hand away from her mouth, Kerr had a wicked smile on her face.

“I’d love to see you try, big stuff.”

Naturally, that response devolved into a spate of not quite obscene flirting that drew a mix of reactions from the various people close enough to overhear. Not that Jadis was one to care overmuch about what other people might think about who she flirted with and how she did it, but she was interested in the others she would be working with for the expedition.

The other independent mercenaries drew her attention the most. The five of them were an eclectic mix of unique looks and personalities. Jay observed them openly, letting them know that she watched them since, naturally, they were staring at her and her other selves, too.

The oldest of the bunch was a human man named Otwin. His salt-and-pepper hair and beard gave him quite the rugged, handsome look. If Jadis had any interest in men, she could see him being an easy eight or nine. She wasn’t sure exactly how old he was, but from the brief interaction she had seen between him and Kerr, she got the impression the man had been working in the trade for decades. His armor was of a slightly different design, but it looked similar to the city guards escorting her. The only real difference in his armaments was the longsword he carried instead of a spear.

The man next to Otwin looked to be his partner, or at least someone he’d worked with before because the two had taken seats next to each other and spent their time talking quietly together. Tall and dark-haired, the merc had introduced himself as Mounce while sporting a jaunty grin. He looked to be a half-elf, same as Sabina, if Jadis could make the judgement. His ears were somewhat pointed and his eyes had a slight silvery sheen to them, though his skin color looked little different from Otwin’s. His armor and shield were the same make as Otwin’s too, Jadis noticed, though he had an axe instead of a sword. The similarities were enough that Jadis wondered if there was some closer relationship between them.

Sitting as far away from everyone else in the room was a human woman Kerr had called, “that bitch Jana.” Apparently the two did not get along personally, though Kerr had admitted the woman was a competent fighter with a strong record of getting jobs done. She was more the handsome type of woman, rather than beautiful in Jadis’ opinion, with a strong jaw. She carried a crossbow that was larger than the standard affair she’d seen used by Bernd’s Blades, plus a bevy of daggers strapped all over her light armor.

Then there was the gnome, Thurstan. He had happily gone around introducing himself to everyone before they’d even all boarded The Silver Breeze. He’d made quite a few exclamations about their size once he’d gotten to the three towering giants, but all had been said in good nature. The gnome’s armor was of a wildly different style from any other Jadis had seen before, consisting of triangular metal plates like scale armor except, there was no other way for her to describe it, far bushier. The puffed-out scales even extended to his helmet and, if his armor had been colored green, Jadis was sure the man could have looked passably like a small shrub.  Thurstan carried a spear but had no shield. Instead, he relied on ice magic due to having an offshoot of a wizard class as his secondary, or so he had openly explained.

“Even if it’s for a short while, we should know each other if we’re going to be working together!” Thurstan had confided to Jay while giving her a congenial wink. “Though don’t feel you need to give away the whole barrel. Just a turnip or two of information so I know what to expect when we get into a fight out there.”

Jadis had to agree with the little gnome. It was a good idea to have some concept of what your allies were capable of before getting into combat.

The last of the independent mercs was a human man named Douglas. Jadis had to hide the smirks on her faces when the lumbering brick had introduced himself. Something about the pedestrian name tickled her given the context. Douglas was undeniably a bruiser. He stood as tall as Aila, the only other human Jadis had seen so far to match her companion’s height, but was twice as wide with biceps as wide around as Christmas hams. The impression of being something of a meat head was enhanced by the somewhat vacant stare in his deep-set eyes, though when Thurstan had addressed him, he’d spoken politely enough, though generally only in single syllable words. The man carried no shield and no armor, his clothes looking more like the ordinary fair a common man would wear while going about town, and his weapon was a literal meat cleaver, except three times the normal size. Jadis was intensely curious what his classes were given his equipment, but his only response when Thurstan had asked him what he could do had been cryptic:

“I can take a hit.”

There were other people in the crew quarters, too, though they were less interesting to Jadis. Six merchant guild guards armed with spears, shields, and small crossbows were along, though it had been explained that they weren’t coming further ashore than the docks on this mission. Their job was to protect the ship and crew from any demons that might try to attack them. The cauldron they had been sent to retrieve was valuable, but the ship was just as expensive, if not more so. Guard Captain Waltz had made it clear that he was only concerned with the safety of the ship and his six men were not going to be sent on any rescue missions if any of the mercs fell behind.

Kerr had cussed the stodgy man out after he’d left earshot but had told Jadis that what he had said was typical. Whether their target item was retrieved or not, the merchant guild would want to protect its investment. Losing the cauldron would be bad. Losing the ship, too, would be far, far worse.

The final group stuck below deck with the rest of them were the workers sent to handle the actual retrieval of the enchanted cauldron. There were ten in total, a mix of humans and gnomes and a single elf. The woman in charge was a gray-haired gnome with a high-pitched voice. She had introduced herself to the mercenaries at large as Centa.

“I’m not going to tell you professionals what to do as I don’t know a thing about fighting,” she’d told them after they’d all been sequestered in the crew’s quarters. “But keep it in mind that my boys and me are entirely dependent on all of you to keep us alive in this venture. So, in my opinion, I think it’ll behove you all to make an effort to clear as much of the town as you can before my crew comes ashore. Then again, maybe you all think of something else that’ll work and that’s fine by me, just so long as you keep me and mine from harm. Remember, any of us make a fatal acquaintance with a demon and your pay will be dropped to a fifth of what it’ll be if you keep us from the hereafter for a few more days.”

Centa had made a good point, one that Jadis had been open to discuss. What exactly was the plan once they got to Alawar? Not having anywhere near the experience of the other mercenaries, or even Aila all things considered, Jadis had been content to let the rest talk it out.

It had been a short discussion. The mercenaries had agreed that they would go ashore first before anyone else and do an initial sweep of the village. Once they were certain that the initial danger had been cleared, half of them would go back for the retrieval crew while the other half maintained a perimeter around the workshop until the crew had been escorted to the workshop at which point all the mercenaries would keep watch while the crew worked. Once the crew had gathered everything they needed to, the mercs would escort them back to the ship and their job would be done. The consensus was that the whole event should take them a few hours at most, held up only by the potential complexity of some of the enchanted equipment that needed to be dismantled before transportation.

While the presence of demons was certain, Otwin, Waltz, and Centa all agreed that the numbers should be relatively small. The report from the last scouting mission that had passed through Alawar had mentioned minimal activity, with the scouts even staying in one of the outskirt buildings overnight without issue. Since the report was only a couple of months past, they doubted that much had changed in the situation.

Jadis wasn’t so sure. With how much demon activity had increased in the Broken Hills around Far Felsen, Jadis felt that there could be quite a bit more opposition in the abandoned village than was expected. Then again, the village was remote and bereft of a population. Demons seemed to be attracted to human, or more accurately, mortal activity. Maybe they couldn’t be bothered with a village that had no life to corrupt? Since Kerr and the other experienced mercenaries and guards didn’t seem concerned, she took her cue from them.

And so Jadis spent her time on the ship below deck, not seeing much of anything, but at least getting to enjoy some conversation and banter with Aila and Kerr. Eir, sadly, didn’t participate much, beyond a profusion of apologies after she did eventually succumb to her seasickness and upchuck her breakfast.

At least Dys was able to get a bucket to her in time.

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