With his cold weather gear set out, he checked their course on the map. With his calculations, they had 2 hours before they would reach port. Perfect! He found an unopened bottle of rum, uncorked it, and took a few gulps. He recorked it and set it aside. He limped over to his hammock, and fell into it with a groan. He was asleep instantly.

[B] 2 Hours later! [/b]

He awoke with a start, as the ship began to descend. Commands were being shouted for water landing preparations. He hopped out of his hammock, and hobbled over to his mirror. Splashing water on his face and hair, he gave himself a look over. Still handsome! He quickly put on a new set of pants, another ghille shirt, and the winter overcoat. He stepped into his boots, and was out the door. He made sure to walk without a hitch in his step, to make sure no one knew he was injured.

[I]"Make ready for port, gentlemen. As soon as we hit the water, turn the ship around. Miss Blackfire, please get ready for Port Authority, they will be aboard the ship to inspect our cargo for contraband, and will charge a fee for us to dock. See to it they get paid."[/I] He said, clasping his hands behind his back after handing her a small bag of coins.

The ship splashed down In the water, throwing up a massive wave. Some of the newcomers had to pick themselves up of the deck, not expecting to set down that hard. The ship tacked hard, turning around to face Perconi.

Perconi was the picture of Progress. It was one of the first towns to build flying docks and ships, it was a cultural hub. Artists, inventors, musicians alike gathered here. Rooftops with red shingles lined the excellently paved streets. The town stretched around the lake a bit, and was more like a small city. Small, personal skiffs and dinghies floated above the city, quick and effective ways of gettig across town quickly. Already Rous could smell the food, and hear music floating gently on the breeze. As soon as they pulled into port, Rous grabbed a rope and swung down,using his momentum to carry him forward on the dock, hitting the ground walking. The Port Authority officer was already making his way towards him "Excuse me, sir, we need to-" He was cut off by Rous' hand flashing in front of his face [I]"Talk to my first mate. I'm in a hurry."[/I] He sped past the officer, who was just confused as could be.

He walked into the first pub he saw, and strode straight to the counter. He purchased a loaf of bread, and a few flasks of water. Wrapping the bread in a cloth, he stuck it in a large pocket on he inside of his coat, and was turning to leave when a captain from one of their fleets' ships intercepted him with a grin. "Captain Al'Shineran! How about that drink?" Rous stopped for a second, turned back to the barmaid, and held up two fingers. When she set down the drinks, he quickly chugged his pint, and turned to the Captain. [I]" Forgive me, Sir. I'm in a hurry. We can have a propper drink when we get to he next town. I have somewhere I have to be. Thanks for the drink."[/I] Rous shook the other captain's hand, and rushed out of the pub. As he made his way down the street, he patted himself. Pistol, check. Reloads, check. Bread and water for the trip, check.

As he progressed through the city, towards he forest, and ultimately the mountain hey just sailed over, a smile began creeping across his face. This was his kind of adventure, the kind he knew for so long. Since it would take a day to get to his destination, that meant hiking through the night as well. No big deal. Soon he reached the edge of town, was across the fields and farmlands, and was in the forest. He was making great time.

"You're free to go." She told Matthew, a small smiled forming when Tressa mentioned learning, "I'm definitely not as skilled with a knife as some of the crew but I know a few tricks. I can teach you the basics sometime. Whether on board or after our trip through town."

Avery worked on several other crew members as the time passed, as the ship descended she could feel the water get steadily closer. It made her feel more relaxed, although she wasn't up to doing any magic tricks with it at the moment. Patiently she waited until the crew was cleared to leave the ship. The authorities annoyed her, their questions felt like she was being interrogated. After they left her office she locked the door and went in search of Tressa, she wasn't sure what she had planned but knew that getting supplies in town would be on the list somewhere.

"I thought so." Matthew said to Nikki, before turning back to Avery and jumping off the table, "Thank you." he said to the doctor, before heading out the door. He showed the authorities the ammunition for the guns and cannons on the ship before heading off the deck, holding a bag of goods to trade. He headed for the pawn shops to sell drake eyes and drake claws. He walked out with a large bag of cash and copper goggles. He headed for the metalsmith to start his project.

Tressa had jumped slightly at Fer's voice, embarrassment at her jumpiness evident in her nervous smile. "Oh..." she said to Fer after Avery had spoken, "Well...I'd appreciate it. Maybe I'll go over the basics with Avery, so you don't have to start from scratch? Or if it doesn't matter...maybe it's best not to use the doctor's time," she said with a look of apprehension. Avery had said she'd be willing but a doctor's time was precious. "I'd best go take inventory," she added, giving a small curtsy before sidling past Fer and back to the kitchens.

She had a list ready by the time the ship was lurching and she was clutching to a support beam to keep from falling over. She grimaced as several pans and cutlery she'd left out slid and shook onto the floor. This sort of thing was never a problem in a stable kitchen! When would she learn? If Avery wanted to find her, Tressa was retrieving items off the floor and dumping them in the washbasin.

Avery shook her head when she walked into the kitchen, "You need to find some glue or nails to make holders or something." she commented, bending down to pick up a cleaver. "I'm ready to go when you are" She placed the blade in a knife block. "I have time, my office is clean and organized and we aren't in a fighting area" -anymore- she added silently "Besides I'm mostly off duty, I think, while we're in town. My patients are all healing and nobody should be in any danger of dying." She prayed the last part was true, complications could happen suddenly. The medic waited patiently for Tressa to finish to follow her out into town.

(( You think we managed to follow our captain? Or did he manage to slip off without us?))

Blackfire took care of everything, sure to have some people ready to recruit. When those duties were done, she found Nikki. "C'mon," she whispered. Her body twisted and shrank and within a few seconds a regular-looking raven was standing in front of the other girl. She cawed softly at her and took wing, quickly catching up to the captain who was so eager to hide wherever it was he was going. She had a very good guess, but guessing wasn't enough. She needed to know before she was satisfied. Besides... there was probably something of great interest there besides whatever it was the captain was looking for.

Tressa took a few extra seconds to finish clearing the floor. "That's a good idea," she said, dusting off her skirt. "I'm ready to go. Oh, wait," she said, grabbing her shopping list, pausing for a moment to find a place to tuck it when she had no pockets, and then placing it inside her boot against her leg. "Okay, now I'm ready." She followed Avery out with a slight skip to her step.

No sooner had Blackfire said something than Nikki was heading after her, shifting into a calico housecat as soon as it was feasible. <I wonder where he's going,> she sent to the her friend, before they caught up with Rous. <I won't be able to talk without the captain hearing, once we reach him,> she added. <Just a heads up.>

After Matthew was done welding two sheets of copper and iron together, he looked up to see a raven flying above the town. He squinted and saw a shadowy mass trailing behind it. Soon after, he saw a cat following it. He shook his head. "Those girls..." He muttered to himself. The town metalsmith had allowed him to use his forge and buy materials, but when Matthew showed him the blueprint, his eyebrows raised a bit, but he said nothing and carried on with his own work. Matthew put his copper goggles back on and began getting back to work on bronze-plated wheels.

"Oh, that's okay, Nikki." Blackfire landed and walked beside her when they got closer to Rous. "I have a strong feeling I know what this place is, where we're going, but I'm not entirely sure. All I can really say is, be careful. If this really is the place then there's no telling what sort things are there now." She fluffed her feathers, hopping a little ahead of Nikki. "I might be going home." With that statement she took off again, meaning to catch up to Rous.

If only onlookers could see into the mind of Rous, the battles they would have seen replaying through his head. This nation had been host to countless wars, battles, skirmishes. Most of the major ones in the prior centuries Rous had been a part of, fighting for whichever nation paid the most, whichever cause he had deemed worthy.

One battle, he rode in a calvary unit in a charge down this hill against an army who held the town, which one it was was lost on him. [I]"That was what, right after I found the Father flame? 400 years ago?"[/I] He mused aloud. Another battle here flashed through his head, defending against the massive Mountain raider Uprising, as thousands of Raider men and women came charging down the hill at them.

Then there was the civil war, between separatists and the Kingdom. He rode as a knight for the kingdom, for the separatists had been killing women and children, whose husbands and fathers sided with the throne. Now that he thought about it, he had been a mercenary for a long time, only exploring when he grew tired of the fighting. He missed the adventure, and always went back to it.

He absent-mindedly drew his pistol, swung and fired at a rabbit running across the road. He stooped to pick it up, just realizing he found lunch! His stomache growled, realizing that he hadn't eaten at all today, seeing how his morning started withoa battle with the drakes.

He picked a spot under an oak tree to sit for a minute. Grabbig the dirk from his boot, he skinned the rabbit, found some sticks to make a roasting spit, and spawned a blue flame to cook the rabbit over. It would be done fairly quickly, so he could continue on his journey. He looked up at the tree, then at his surroundings, and laughed. He had camped under this specific tree once before, when it was much smaller. He flicked his hand, and the flame changed from blue to orange, so it wouldn't cook as quickly, and began climbing the tree. He looked all around the tree on the trunk, mumbling to himself. He finally found it. A heart, with two names carved in the middle. "Rous+Saro" He smiled a sort of sad, nostalgic smile. He scrubbed his face as he realized a tear had worked it's way out of his eye. He pointed at Saro's name with just his index finger, and the bark began to smolder and burn, a black spot burning out her name, just leaving his.

He climbed back down, and returned to his meal. Peeling it off the stick, he bit into the still tender and bloody meat, enjoying the taste. Usually on his travels, he'd eat his captured prey raw, to save time. But, he had made decent progress thus far, a 15 minute break couldn't hurt.

Blackfire landed on a branch in the tree he'd just been in and fluffed her feathers. After a minute or two of watching Rous eat, she cawed at him. Most people would see just a regular crow, but something nagged at her that Rous would be able to tell it was her. Oh well. She looked down at him, head bobbing and turning a bit, like a curious raven. Her eyes flicked over to what he'd been doing and she froze. Why did that seem so familiar? And the surrounding... everything was very familiar, more so than she'd thought it would be.

Nikki stayed out of sight. Her disguise was good, but the fact that she was calico often gave her away to those that knew her in her human form. She wondered what Blackfire was up to, approaching Rous like that. The feline found herself a place to watch and settled in to wait.

As Rous sat and ate, he wandered deeper into his mind. What was he going to do with his time? As far as he was concerned, he would never run out of it. If he was careful, he could escape death easily. Even with his adventuring, fighting lifestyle, he had already mastered the art of not getting himself killed.

A rustling in the branches above him snapped him from his thouhts. He looked up, a crowinspecting him with curiosity. He looked around, and saw no nests in the tree, so it wouldn't be investigating him as a threat. His chewing slowed drastically, as he squinted up at the bird. He swallowed the bite of food and stood, glaring hard at it. Was it an actual crow? If it was, was it one of those spy birds, ones someone could talk to telepathically? He pulled a piece of meat from his rabbit, and tossed it away, seeing if it was just hungry.

Well well... Rous was an idiot after all. Blackfire hurriedly hopped down and snatched up the rabbit morsel, quite a pleased little raven. Then she looked up at him again and cautiously moved a little closer. Just a little, now eyeing the rabbit. If she could snag one more piece, she could probably get it to Nikki... Suddenly she froze, feathers ruffled. Memories shoved their way through her skull, none of them pleasant at all, causing her to take a step back. Her little beak opened and in the smallest voice, she said, "Bang," and then flew off in a flurry of feathers.

While carefully placing in a small, jagged, green crystal into an open compartment in the main body of the cannon Matthew felt a cold breeze behind him. He turned to see the pale man there, his arms crossed. He was no longer wearing his armor, but instead wearing what looked like an expensive suit. The metalsmith seemed to see him, but his eyes glazed over and went back to his normal goings. "So how's my favorite champion doing?" He asked with a sly smile. Matthew shook his head, taking his copper goggles off and resting them on his forehead, just under his horns. "Look, I don't know what this 'champion' business is, but I'm not having it." Beelze raised an eyebrow, "Oh? But you accepted my power, so that makes you my champion." He said, pointing at Matthew with a wink.

"Your ego is way too high, you know that right?" Matthew blatantly told him. Beelze put his hand to his chest in mock surprise, "Who, me? Pshaw, I would call it more like... Pride." He said, the sly smile growing ever wider. Matthew just shook his head again at the tall, slender, pale man, and got back to welding pieces of metal together. Beelze leaned forward, examining the cannon. "What have we got here?" He said, his eyebrow raised in amusement. "Just a little project." Matthew said, welding a piece of silver to the side of the cannon.

[I]'Bang, indeed.'[/I] He thought, once again pulling his pistol. He was really in another time and place, he didn't remember reloading the pistol, but he did. He fired after the crow, frowning at the fact that he barely missed. But it wasn't a lapse in skill, but a subconscious jerk of the trigger that made him pull left slightly. That crow would definitely be scared shitless of the hiss it was about to hear.

He sat back down, shrugging off the fact that it got away. If someone were to come alog, thinking he was going to be easy to kill, they were going to be gravely, fatally mistaken. Or, if they stayed back, they would probably die on the mountain somewheree that night, either mauled by wolves, gored by bears, murdered by Mountain raiders, flattened by the Living trees (not to be confused with healthy, static, non-moving normal trees), or picked up and carried off by the massive, man eating Eagles.

He finished up his rabbit, tossing the bones and entrails aside,and scrubbed his face free of blood. He once again reloaded his pistol, stuck it back in his belt, and started moving again. He whistled as he walked, a sort of upbeat, yet sad sounding tune he once heard, sung by a bard in a tavern. It was about how the bard lived in an ash grove at one point in his life, met the girl of his dreams, and got married. The next chorous was about how she had died from some disease, and was burried in that ash grove. A rather depressing bard he was, but the song hit close to Rous' heart, and he enjoyed the tune.

Avery smiled slightly, "You're the one running errands. I'm just here for moral support in a big town." she commented, pausing a step to that the cook would be in front of her. She would only be a half a step behind Tressa, but it wouldn't do to just wander until after the ships' needs were tended to.

The town was lively, and it made Avery jumpy, although most large, busy places did. She admired the shops and dining places, as they wove through the town, keeping a careful watch on her purse and Tressa. A few weapons and jewelry baubles caught her eye. She tried to make note of the stores but figured she'd get lost trying to find them again.

Tressa led the way through the town, doing a brisk once-over of any area dense with market and a few areas with less to offer, keeping in her head prices and goods available. After that, she made a beeline for the places that had what the pantry needed, haggling to her heart's delight, and sending off the purchases back to the ship.

"That should do it," she said with a pleased smile. "I guess that means we've recruiting to do, then? There's a few places I think would be optimal - there was a large pub near the docks where probably a lot of sailors gather, but then, they're likely employed too...there was a place not far from there where there was a big noticeboard, lot of people passing by there...we get too far from the docks and probably we won't be able to find as many sailor types. I think maybe between the pub and the noticeboard might be best but- what do you think, in the pub or out?"