The commands were as follow: about three maids would investigate the ship and if needed distract those aboard, so the rest could go ashore unnoticed. A few would stay behind to guard the ship. Runa joined the crew in their expedition, as navigator she wanted to practice the art of map making too and thought this island to be a good project for a first try. The mountain, as Runa observed, was a nice anchor point to estimate distances. 

“There’s a good chance those guys are after the same as us.” One of the maids commented as they stepped ashore. Runa only nodded, having her attention more on the surroundings than on the group. 

The group consisted of a few maids, the captain and the boatswain, all armed to their teeth with their own signature weapons. Captain Eris Rose was an impressive woman, who could give comments with only a look. She didn’t intervene much with the maids, but there were these rare occasions when the crew would celebrate a good year or the succession of a hard victory and Captain Rose would chime in, showing a side that could only be described as exuberant. No one knew much about their captain though, which was probably one of the reasons Runa liked her so much. 

The captain locked eyes with one of the maids, and gestured for her to scout ahead. Trish, not really a girl anymore, but still a bit too young to be seen as a woman, walked ahead through the light sand and was mostly trying to find tracks of the people that went before them. It didn’t took her long to find something of a cleared out path that went into the tropical forest and waved back at her party. The captain gave a slight nod. 

“Alright ladies, let’s find ourselves some diamonds and pearls.” The boatswain bellowed, only to add more casual: “Oh and in case we encounter our beloved explorers, make sure we give them a smashing surprise.” The maids chuckled, Runa rolled her eyes, but they all moved through the cleared path carefully. This way it would take more time, but the captain wanted to exploit the advantage they had to its fullest. Runa was walking behind Trish, she figured it was the best place to see where they were heading and hoped she could memorize their way enough to make some use out of it. Although the path was cleared for the most part, bugs made no difference between one party or the other and the occasional suppressed yelp or ‘ieks’ was to be heard, followed by a hushed “sssh”. 

The crew must have walked a few hours before they started to hear voices up ahead. Trish and Runa paused for a moment to look back and wait for a command. It was time to split up the party and sneakily start surrounding the bastards that stood between a pirate crew and their riches.