Talu Wayfinder
• Windward Island, The Sunken Shepard. Southern Seas •
“Oh, you’re also taking on the contract.” Talu’s eyebrows raised, and he nodded. “Reballo says you’re an excellent helmsman. I have no doubt you’ll be an asset to the team.” He handed a contract to Evander. “I know at least there is one ship ready to head into the stor-“ A loud booming voice finally interrupted the Chief. The man he’d been expecting; a man he’d corresponded with for a few days, had finally arrived into the tavern.
“So! This is who I’ve got to work with, eh?” Bron Cirrus eyed the divers and others around the room, adjusting the goggles on his brow. “Hmm…” he muttered to himself. “Bit younger than I’m used to…but that’s a small potatoes contract for ya.” He walked over to Talu, shaking the chief’s hand. “Alright sir, I’ll take over the briefing from here.”
He turned to the tavern, his voice loud enough to reach everyone sitting down. “Name’s Bron Cirrus. I’m a Second Class Diver from the Guild Headquarters in the Great Deep. My ship’s the Skullfish, she’s a small research ship, but her engine will be strong enough to make a barrier for us to pierce the storm, and we’re loading up our “anchor” on the ship as we speak.”
He walked around the room, moving a few chairs around. “Right now, that storm’s winds are strong enough to tear a little ship apart. And while the Skullfish isn’t a skiff, she’s no ironclad either. The engine will give us 10 minutes to get close enough to that rock, but the real magic is going to be how we stick to it. We’re going to anchor ourselves to the rock itself—he made a piercing motion with one hand, “and then we’ll send two teams. A climbing team to investigate the top of that rock, and a diving team to swim down and investigate the bottom. Some ancient structures actually have surface access, and we haven’t had the luxury of scouting the area out.”
He crossed his arms, looking back to Talu. “A few years ago, a guildmate of mine actually lived here. He had a few research notes on that rock, but apparently most of the notes are gone. But a storm like this isn’t natural. Could be ancient machinery; and if it’s that my engineer and myself have experience disabling devices like that. If it’s aetherite, we’ll need a digging team to safely extract the ore to hopefully stop the reaction. And if it’s something else?” He shrugged. “Divers play by ear. We are famous for our resourcefulness, after all. So, what I need to know is everyone’s skills. It already looks like most of you have partnered up, so that eliminates the need for teams. So now it’s just determining who’s going to do what: dive or climb.”
Marlowe Vallis
• Windward Island, Shoreline. Southern Seas •
The sand of the shore was wet from the tide, and Marlowe did his best to duck behind beached canoes and keep his head down as he watched fisherman tie down their boats. And that’s when he saw it. “Damnit…” he muttered to Marea, turning back to her. “They’ve got guards on the boats today.” Of course. Talu probably anticipated Marlowe to attempt to commandeer a small skiff and attempt his own mission to stop the storm. There’s no way I can get of-
“Careful with that! We need to load it on the ship carefully! It’s got to pierce thick rock, and I don’t need you blunting the tip!” A man’s voice came from the docks; and Marlowe saw several mean carrying a wrapped object, moving several boxes onto a boat larger than any of the fishing boats he’d seen.
“That’s it…” he whispered to Marea. “I bet they’re taking that boat to Gullspire. All I have to do is sneak on board when no one is looking…”
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