[i]17[sup]th[/sup] Sun's Dawn
Daggerfall, High Rock[/i]
[hr]
Traveling around the Iliac bay had been an interesting experience, but like all good things it ultimately had to come to an end. It was safe to say that Ercanoriel hardly knew this sprawling city, but finding the docks still had not been particularly difficult for the smell and the amount of people working here. Why so many seemed to have an unbroken, enthusiastic relationship with the sea had become a mystery to the Altmer almost the moment he had entered this part of the city. Just as with every pond, be it oversized and salty or not, the downsides of water became apparent when it was standing still for prolonged periods of time. The shallowness here left not much room for algae, fish and whatever happened to be dumped into the docks to disperse its respective odour -- some of it being sucked through Ercanoriel's nostrils right now. He found it a little provocative, but for the Argonians he had seen roaming around here this must have been like a cheap copy of their murky paradise called Blackmarch.

However maybe the true reason for him to feel a little uncomfortable was that all of this reminded him of his departure from Sumerset ? That had been the last seaborn voyage he could remember and, as he had to add with an internal sigh, for this particular destination it had also been the last one. Despite the fact that his life had practically just begun. Ercanoriel raised his view further up from the massive wooden boards he was walking on and allowed it to roam around freely along the multitude of ships present. He searched for a particular vessel namend [i]Kismet[/i], hoping that it had a clear marking on its hull since for him they all looked similar. Nautical affairs clearly weren't the mer's forte, but at least another thing he remembered from the Sumerset transition was that he did not get sea sick easily. A small plus along a lot of minuses he was not looking forward to.

From aboard the Kismet one probably would have been able to spot Ercanoriel with ease: Not only was he huge, but also his attire of choice was quite a bit brotherhood-ish, at least according to clichés and rumors. The Altmer had wrapped himself in a decent amount of almost pitch black linen, the most notable part being the massive hood that protruded so much from his head that his face was well hidden inside the shadows cast by it. Ercanoriel fully expected people to regard this as awekward, silly, provocative or whatever other connotation could come to one's mind, but for him the reasoning was dead simple and straightforward: Damn the sun! A disturbingly little amount of it had the potential to convert his skin into a Masser-like surface: Bloody red and littered with craters! Almost needless to mention that this held especially true if one was completely surrounded by reflective water.

He meandered towards the Kismet slowly, but still there was this clanking sound giving away that he had stored his armor in his large rucksack. Making every part fit by stacking them into each other had taken quite a bit of time, but this way they were hidden from any thief's plain sight and maybe even protected from rats gnawing on some of the leather straps. One could never know... He would have hidden the axe too if this had been possible, but since it hadn't he had strapped the weapon tightly to his back. Now he stood at the lower end of the boarding plank and felt his stomach drop into the depths. That guy at the other end who had just taken a look at a piece of parchment that looked very similar to his own... Compared to Ercanoriel's stature he barely had that of a needle, but still his sheer presence stung greatly since the man was an Altmer. How great!

Hoping that the attendant would do nothing but just reach for the receipt and take a quick look at it Ercanoriel started to climb the plank. It quickly started oscillating beneath his steps, but even without this welcome excuse he would not have dared to look anywhere else. Maybe the Altmer did not even have to take a look at every person's face, so why give him the opportunity for free ? Of course the attendant tried to penetrate the shadows protecting the new passenger's face, also there was a patch of warmth Ercanoriel felt crossing his face that told him that some light had indeed leaked through. A small amount, but it was enough for this member of the ship's personnel to spend at least as much time on looking at the receipt as on trying to decipher more of the figure standing next to him. A sensation Ercanoriel couldn't run away from at this point, so hopefully that little lookup in the ship's manifest wouldn't take long!

The attendant gave an acknowleding nod that almost went unnoticed since the hood also put some limits on the sideways field of view. He was good to go, but... where ? He could spot a redguard in very neat looking clothes manning the wheel. If this deck was a chessboard than he had just found the black king who had sent all peasants forwards, but what when they and all the other figures present would inevitably find out that he belonged as much to the white side of things as it was possible ? Then maybe he'd find out what each person's definition of 'Checkmate' was in less abstract terms. Chess was a noble where no figure was 'beaten', but experience told that many people didn't care much about formalities...

Ercanoriel opted against going below decks right away. He wanted to see who was roaming around here and who else was coming, but preferably without being all too noticeable himself. Next to a bunch of crates he carefully put the huge axe on deck so as not to cause any unnecessary scratches, then sat down himself with his legs halfay bent. His eyes spotted a surprising number of Argonians, also a quite massive Khajiit with black fur. Someone apparently had enough natural authority to speak with the Captain right away -- or maybe the man was particularly talkative ? Anyway... as long as this wouldn't delay the ships departure. Earlier departure meant less people and less people were a good thing! Now unfortunately he had not even remotely enough funds to try and bribe somebody in exchange for a little bit of scheduling sabotage.