[IC]Clockwork Voyage

[Major Mario]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic - ((@TRXD/Serene))

---

Shillings weren't much to look at with their copper appearance and rough texture. They weren't even worth much in the world given that many countries had their own form of currency. Troy had seen a few pictures of foreign currency and remembered some of the names ranging from 'bills' to 'francs' and even 'doubloons', although the last one seemed to be the currency of pirates or mercenary nations. Regardless of the worth, it seemed that the shopkeeper saw something valuable about them to take 25 out of Troy's hand. Perhaps there was some kind of exchange rate that the monk was ignorant about.

Troy nodded his thanks to the shopkeeper and trailed his fingers down the shape of the locket before settling the object in his pocket. Such generosity from the shopkeeper did not go unrewarded. Troy gave him a friendly smile and a small bow of respect before he heard the voice of Miriah at his back. It seemed that Miriah and this shopkeeper, Kaiden, knew each other, but more startling than that was the fact that Troy had managed to find Kaiden's stall out of sheer luck! Truly this day was going to be very pleasant for all three of them, Troy assured himself.

With the two engaged in conversation, Troy busied himself with browsing Kaiden's stall. He felt a sense of mudita, happiness at another person's fortune, when he noticed the two give each other a friendly hug. And here the monk was feeling a little worried that the young woman didn't have many friends!

[wonderweiss]

Outside Wolf's Den

---

She thought she was safe. Not quite.

Surprisingly, a loud boom could be heard from the side. That noise was the infuriated captain bursting out of the side of the ship. One swift movement from the sword created a blade of wind to trip the thief. Once she fell over, he jumped on her back and hit the side of her head with the handle of the blade.

"Well now, that wasn't very nice, was it? Ya know, I could've let you keep your gain if you had worked with me."

The dock was soon filled with pirates.

"Cap'n! We heard a loud crash! What happened?!"

"What happened? We almost got robbed is what happened. I guess I should lay off the dink while I guard."

The pirates looked at the thief, and then the hole. "Did this here thief do that?"

"Nay, it was me. But she did take something of great importance." He reached over and took the notebook back from her.

"At least it's safe." He said. He looked all over her. "And she stole a good portion of money, too. I'm impressed. Really."

He removed the main sack and took a little bit of the money.

"That should cover the damages. You can keep the rest because I admire your skill. But you sure are gutsy. Do you know who I am? Allow me to demonstrate through a shanty. Ooooooooooooooooooooh boy ya know what nevermind, I'm too drunk to sing. Let me tell ye, I am the one who killed Captain Verdelion and his crew!"

((Before you go on and rage, READ HIS BIO, HE LIES BUT TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE EVERYONE ELSE HAS!!!))

"Yes, I remember it all. That notebook you had recorded my ascent from a little ship cleaner to a captain. But I won't bore you with the details. Now then..."

Captain Winters got off of her.

"Go on, get outta here with ehat you have before I change my mind. And remember the name, 'Captain Gale Winters!"

[Luna Pixu]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic

---

Before Miriah had time to respond, she felt the force of Kaiden's body against her own as Kaiden held her in a hug. One of which Miriah couldn't help try to return. While Miriah had only gone for a fortnight, she considered it a nice thought to receive hug welcoming her back from Jefferson. Then again, Kaiden was always the kind of person to happily speak to Miriah, as was she to Kaiden. To speak to a great friend and associate like Kaiden after a mission always helped to keep Miriah's spirits high. As he explained, Kaiden had been busy as usual travelling and exploring. Obtaining new goods and making new friends as was to be expected from a man who Miriah thought of as being a free-spirit.

"I see you've been having good business." Miriah commented in a rather upbeat tone. As she began to explain herself, Miriah let go of Kaiden and attempted to free herself from Kaiden's grasp. "Well, as for me... How should I put it? I was kicked off my most recent crew, The Heisenberg." Miriah promptly explained with guilty yet somewhat carefree giggle.

"But to be honest, I did have my reasons. The captain was rather stern and didn't really approve of my tendency to read books all day or socialise with the crew. But what was I supposed to do? My job is not one that expects me to be always alert or on deck. And yet despite my explanations, the captain refused to listen to me." Miriah continued before letting out a deep sigh of defeat. "I honestly think that the captain was not aware of my job at all and merely assumed that I was some manner of a deckhand or a swabbie. Well, as soon as I can, I'm going to explain my case to the higher-ups and see to finding something else."

[SereneGrace]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic

Kaiden listened intently to what Miriah had to say. He was both apalled and a bit saddened about Miriah's experience with her most recent captain. The captain that Miriah was talking about sounded like a rather ignorant man, like the kind of guy that just treated everyone under his command like they are truly just people he can boss around, rather than treating them like other people. This made Kaiden feel uneasy after he heard this, but is thankful that Miriah is planning on dealing with that problem.

"Oh my that captain sounds like a rather foul kind of guy. Just you talking about that gives me a rather sour taste in the back of my throat. I am relieved though that you are planning on taking proper action for it, and I do hope that that captain gets what he deserves." Kaiden said as he crossed his arms.

"Well Miriah what brings you to my shop aside from your regular visits when we are both in town? Is it that you came just to see little ol' me? Or is there another reason? Maybe you are looking for something particular, or you just wish to tell me to keep an eye out for anything special when I leave later this evening once the repairs on my ship are complete..." Kaiden said as he questioned Miriah bout all the reasons as to why she is here. Mostly because he truly just wishes to know.

[Luna Pixu]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic

---

Although Miriah could have easily slid her intentions amongst her banter, it appears that Kaiden had caught on quickly to the fact that Miriah was not here for the simple intention of socialising. While Miriah did not mind simply talking to her dear friend, there were other things at hand. And having Troy in her presence reinforced that fact.

"Well, since I did just get kicked off the Heisenberg, I don't have anything to do presently. And being in Jefferson did give me the incentive to pop by here and talk to you. After all, asides from purchasing new equipment, what else would I be doing in this market?" Miriah teased. "Actually, I'm here because I've got a favour to ask of you. Kaiden, you're aware the tale of Captain Verdelion's treasure, right? Here's the thing. Apparently, Sheriff Velvetlan is going after the treasure as well. Whether she has a clue to the treasure or not, I have no bally idea; but I might as well considering seeing to her about it. So, here's where you come in. We need a ship. And since I neither own a ship nor can pilot one, I was wondering if we could get a ride on yours." Miriah asked in a half casual, half inquisitive tone. Right now, the only way that Miriah and Troy had a hope of searching for the treasure would be to get a ship. Of which Kaiden had one. But while Miriah explained her situation, she was innocently unaware that she had not clarified as to what she meant by 'we' and merely assumed that Troy was right beside her. But little did Miriah know that Troy was busy observing and browsing through Kaiden's stall behind her back.

[SereneGrace]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic

Kaiden looked at Miriah as he tried to think of a proper response...

Verdelion's Treasure... a rather famous, or should he say infamous treasure that is known quite well among adventurers and traders alike. It is infamous for how well hidden it is, and famous for how valuable it is said to be. Kaiden had met several people who had gone on to search for the treasure, but he had not heard from them since. He is unsure as to whether or not those few people he knew had either perished or are still searching for the infamous treasure.

The young trader looked up at Miriah with a more serious expression on his face than before. One that showed that he does know of the treasure, and is also aware of quite a few of the rumors surrounding it. "Yeah I know of the treasure. In fact a lot of people in the trading, and adventuring business have heard the rumors of the treasure. In fact it is one treasure that I dream to find, yet don't wish to actually go out searching for it... Not without the proper crew of course. So I can't say for certain that I agree to go looking for it, but if this Sheriff Velvetlan might have a lead I might actually consider going off to look for it." Kaiden replied as he continued to think about it even more. This little bit of info on that there might be someone with a lead on the treasure, then it might just be worth checking out. Though he actually won't go out looking for it unless he has a proper crew with him. Thankfully Miriah's last remark caught his attention.

"So you wish for me to help you search for the treasure? Well Miriah you know I would be glad to do anything for you! Truly I would, and if you wish to go look for the treasure then I won't mind granting you permission to board my ship. It'll be like having a crew of my own! I am so- Wait did you say we would like to borrow my ship?" Kaiden was saying with excitement as he quickly stopped as the word we in Miriah's sentence finally registered in his mind.

"Who's we?"

[WriggleRid3r]

Airspace

---

"Got 'em all, captain!"

"Good. Without those harpoons, we won't have to worry about sinking-"

The captain of the Glossy Brass pirates couldn't finish his command as he and most of the pirates were thrown off balance, witnessing their two ships making a twirling motion, growing closer and closer.

"Cap'n! We might collide!"

"Who's doing that?"

"Methinks there's another harpoon stuck to our ships!"

The grunt was right: embedded right below the ships' keels were two steel harpoons connected to a thick leather-and-iron string, dictating movements of the two pirate ships. Normally this won't work, but the two pirate ships were very light, and Lia's ship had good engine.

"Blast it all, we'll have to retreat." The captain grumbled in defeat. "We cannot move forward with those cables. Men, prepare all thrusters!"

The cables began to shudder and quake as the two ships rejected Lia's ship by utilizing their superior engines to shake off what was once their target of plunder. Their ships themselves didn't suffer too much damage, but if they continued forward, they would be within the mercy of the cables and would have crashed, causing more trouble than what's worth.

[Major Mario]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic - ((@SereneGrace & TRXD))

---

Troy wasn't a participant in the conversation between Miriah and Kaiden, and for good reason. These two seemed much more than friends, but not lovers. More like family without relation if their warm words and friendly demeanors were anything to go by. It was the polite thing to leave them to their own devices for awhile. In the meantime, Troy busied himself with listening in and browsing Kaiden's shop for anything else that could be of use. Sadly, much of Kaiden's wares were purely decorative of nature and weren't very useful other than holding sentimental value.

Upon hearing Kaiden's confusion at Miriah's explanation that she had someone tagging along with her, Troy decided to get back into the conversation. He waved to Kaiden and introduced himself once again.

"Two heads are better than one, and if Miriah and I can meet up with this Sheriff Velvetlan and appeal to her, who is to say that a bunch of determined adventurers and scholars will have better luck finding this infamous treasure?" The monk smiled and looked to Miriah. "Besides, there are only so many pleasures in this world. Companionship is one of them."

[Katrix]

Oceanside, Ravendale - The docks

Kathryn was so close, but she didn't make it. Maybe she did underestimate him a bit. The thing that surprised her tough, was that he let her keep what she had stolen. Was he to drunk to notice that the main sack had way too little money in it from the start, and what about the map. He saw her take it with his own eyes, was he to drunk to remember? Well, at this point it didn't matter. As long as she had the money, everything was good.

As fast as Kathryn had rounded a corner after being released from them, she tried to vanish from the place as good as she could. First of she took to the rooftops, although making sure to not be seen while doing so. After Kathryn had gotten a good amount of distance between herself and the docks, she checked her hiding spots just to be sure. Sure enough, all the money was still there, the other stuff she took too, including the map. The only thing she didn't have was that journal. It made her kind of angry tough. That was where the really juicy treasure was at. She'd give back all the gold she had, if she were to just be able to keep that journal. Well, done is done. It looked like she had to get the information she sought from somewhere else.

[Kristia]

Airspace

Lia couldn't help but laugh at the scene, the two ships were using all their energy to get away from each other and she had the final move to win this battle "Ok pirates, I had some fun with you, but I better cut off your leash" she spoke through the radio and pressed button.

As soon as the redhead pressed that button, the hook´s cable snapped from it´s ship, leaving the two pirate vessels free.. with their thrusters at what looked maximum capacity

"So long birdies" Lia smirked also going at full speed away from the ships

[SUSTIC]

Airspace

As Mard tried to get through the ship to the captain's area he stumbled back and forth as the ship swayed.

Whatever is going on outside is beginning to get on Mard's nerves. Thankfully he isn't human though, for if he was he would be getting seasick right now. "Oh bloody hell I never been in a situation like this before! All this swaying is beginning to effect my sense of bala-" Mard said as he fell forward, landing face first on the hard flooring of the ship. A loud thud would be heard if it weren't for the sounds of the radio blaring loudly throughout the ship.

Not only was there a loud thud but also a loud crack. Taking notice of the cracking sound Mard quickly sat up to look for the damage, and there it was... a large crack on his left shoulder. "Well oh dear isn't this bad... with this crack I might not be able to move my arm... now let's see..." He muttered to himself as he tried moving his left arm, but no such luck. He was able to move his hand and all, but was unable to move his arm whatsoever. "Oh dear now this is bad... I can't move my freaking arm... I knew I should have stayed in the cargo bay... Might as well remove this useless limb while we're at it..." He said as he slammed his left shoulder against the wall beside him. He did this several times until his arm cracked enough to the point where it gave way and fell off, leaving nothing but a large hole peering into his hollow body where his shoulder was

"There that should not be a hindrance... gonna be lacking an arm until we can find some rocks, but I should be able to manage until then..." He said as he continued his way to Lia's operating chamber.

[Amaterasu no Akane]

Airspace

After being unconscious for a while, Thomas regained little consciousness. "Dammit," Thomas thought, "My head hurts..." He stood up slowly and steadily, while resisting the swaying of Lia's ship. At that point, he slowly regained consciousness bit by bit. Although, he successfully got up, his vision was horribly blurry. Not knowing where to head, Thomas slowly went forward, while dragging his rifle with him.

"Crap," Thomas inaudibly muttered, "The pain is freakin' unbearable." When he moved his hand towards his head, half of his hand felt cold, the other half felt strangely warm. At the same time he touched his head, it hurt terribly. Thomas slightly irked in pain. "Crap, got to get this fixed soon..." Thomas muttered in a low volume. Moving on, he kept walking forward, while trying his best to resist the occasional, severe swaying of the ship. Slowly, his vision started to normalize, from nearly blind to visible blurs. As his vision normalized, he saw some sort of gray clump in his vision.

Being familiar, Thomas yelled, "Who's there!" while he urked in pain that came from the right of his neck.

[Luna Pixu]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic

---

Miriah quickly froze up and stopped in her tracks when Kaiden asked as to who 'we' was? It was in that moment that Miriah realised that Troy had not backed her up and she was openly saying 'we' with no clarification as to who she was referring to. If only she had introduced Troy beforehand instead of causing this moment of confusion. It would have saved her this piece of confusion and embarrassment. Fortunately, Troy had decided to join in on the conversation and provide his own little introduction and speech. Right now, Miriah was rather grateful for Troy's little intervention. While there wouldn't have been any real damage caused, Troy definitely helped to recover Miriah from her little faux-pas.

"Yes, that's right." Miriah commented with a slightly embarrassed tone to her voice. Once that little faux-pas was brushed aside, Miriah straightened herself up and returned to her usual peppy self. "Anyways, Kaiden, I'd like to introduce to you Troy. Troy, this is Kaiden. He's a good friend of mine. And he's here to help us out."

"You see, Troy and I are intending on searching for Verdelion's treasure and we both need a ship in order to do that. Since both of us had the same intentions and ideas, I decided to bring him along for the ride. I hope you don't mind me bringing him here. But from what I can see, he's not a threat. If anything, he seems like a nice chap. So, do you... mind me bringing him with us?" Miriah asked Kaiden while looking into his golden eyes.

[SereneGrace]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic


"Oh... I see..." Kaiden remarked as he thought about Troy and Miriah's request.

He would be glad to take Miriah, but Troy... despite him being his first customer for the day Kaiden doesn't know him at all. Could he really trust Troy? Granted Troy does seem like a nice enough guy, and he doesn't look like the kind of guy to hide any secrets. But Kaiden was taught and had learned that you can't trust anyone upon first glance. However Miriah seems to know him a bit better, and trusts him enough... so maybe it is alright to allow Troy to tag along.

"You know... Normally I won't trust everyone I meet to be brought upon my ship, but since you seem to trust him I guess I could allow it. One problem though... my ship is in the shop right now going under some routine repairs. So we might not be able to leave until later today. Until then we will be stuck here in town."

((Sorry for this half-assed post. Just tired and been busy all day.))

[Luna Pixu]

Central Market - Jefferson, Skylands Republic

---

Without a hitch, Miriah had gotten Troy a place aboard a ship and was sure to be able to get to Piltover. While Miriah could have easily secured a place on Kaiden's ship with no problem at all, it was bringing a near stranger aboard that made the thing all the more risky. But what was Troy going to do anyway? Asides from attempted theft, it didn't seem that Troy had anyway to cause trouble. No weapons visible and Miriah doubted that he had a revolver hidden under that gown of his. But if Troy were to stir a fight on Kaiden's ship, he would assuredly regret his decision within seconds.

"Thank you, Kaiden." Miriah replied. "We'll report back here once the repairs are done."

With her response given, Miriah began to think about what she needed to do. While purchasing a new rifle or repeater was must for Miriah, there were other things that began to creep into her mind. After all, Miriah had been kicked off the Heisenberg for "misconduct" and was about to embark on a journey of her own. Unless she requested leave or tried to persuade the Air Force to let Miriah in on the treasure hunt, she would be considered AWOL and could even be dishonourably discharged. This meant that Miriah was going to have to report to her superiors as soon as possible. After all, Miriah was not going to abandon the Air Force and turn her back on her duty. No way in hell would she.

Miriah paused and began to think hard about her current situation. How would she convince her superiors to support her in her decision? Would she just have to get lucky and pray that she is assigned to the treasure hunt? Or would she have to use her recently acquired knowledge on Sheriff Velvetlan to persuade her superiors? The more Miriah thought about it, the less she know about how she was going to put her plan into action.
"Bally hell..." Miriah muttered to herself before standing up straight and raising her voice. "Listen, I need to head to Air Force Command. Need to clear up a few things and get my next assignment. I'm not sure if you can tag along, Troy, but I might need you for this."