EliteCommander

Star Wars: Coruscant Underworld [Always accepting!]

I have come to realize an issue. Presently, my character would be heading home after fixing up her datapad and waiting for word from Dyno. However, if she is to go to the pit, that would require a significant timeskip for her. But, it still needs to sync up with what everyone else is doing. In a sandbox style like this, how do we go about addressing the fact that everyone is going to be doing different things that take different amounts of time, but we still need to be able to sync up that time? Preferably without requiring that people spend long amounts of time unable to do anything.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'm about to head to bed. I'll respond in the morning. Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When she had first acquired the captain's quarters, Meesei had not been sure why there were clamps on the edges of the table, or why the two chairs on either side of it were nailed to the floor, but it certainly made perfect sense now. She and Ri'nakhad, at least, were able to sit down somewhat comfortably, and the map in front of them was kept stable by the clamps.She had no objections to Gallus' suggestion. She had already been thinking along the same lines, so she nodded in agreement. "Leyawiin is the most obvious choice. It is right along our path, so we would only need to make a stop, instead of a detour. We could give them some supplies and explain their situation to the priests in the temple of the Divines in the city. Given that they do not seem to speak Cyrodilic, it would be best to get them back to their home. The temple is meant to be a charitable organization, and may be able to help them. My greatest worry is that we will need to be quick. We can stop in Leyawiin, but we cannot stay long. The last thing we want is to have to deal with the port authorities in any sort of detail. We should be able to dock without too much issue, but not if we linger, or attempt to load or unload cargo. There is much I would like to purchase from the city, but as we have stolen these ships and do not have forgeries of their paperwork, we cannot afford to submit to customs."

Outside, on the ship's starboard side near the bow, Janius would be able to see both Kaleeth and Newt. She was sitting down on the deck with her legs crossed, holding Newt in her lap. They were a moderate distance from the railing, evidently for safety, but Kaleeth did not appear to be stable enough where she was sitting regardless. Usable clothing was not plentiful among the clan at the moment, so she had gone without. The storm, despite the heavy rain and wind, did not seem to be bothering either of them in the slightest. The wind blasted the heavy raindrops against their scales, but gave them apparently no discomfort. As the ship dipped down to the right, then leveled out in the trough, Newt actually started to giggle. Since the wind was rather loud, Kaleeth did not hear Janius the first time he called out, but did recognize his voice on the second attempt. "Oh, hello there!" She shouted loudly, but surprisingly casually.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ma'tanza laughed and placed her hand gently on Tzirret's shoulder. "You're welcome, but you don't need to be so apologetic about everything, Tzirret. It's not like you meant to cause any trouble. You needed help, so Ma'tanza helped you. We're past all of that now, though. We have the ship now, so we can finally relax. How about we go pick up something to eat, then head back down to the hold? Ma'tanza doubts many want to go back down there yet, and she feels like getting away from the crowd."

---

The rest of the day was mostly spent allowing the clan to become acclimated to living on the ship. Most everyone was encouraged to head down below deck after they had a chance to get some fresh air and stretch their legs. For the most part, it left only those who were now serving as the crew on the top deck. Although, if Colors had not given that instruction, the weather would have done that for him soon enough. After an hour or so, the wind started to pick up, followed by rain. By late afternoon, it had turned to a torrential downpour. Waves crashed loudly against against the side of the ship, which rocked the ship heavily from side to side. For Colors' crew, and that of the other ship, it was a trial by fire that he certainly would not have preferred. Fortunately, there were experienced sailors other than Colors on both ships, so he was not alone in directing everyone. The majority of the clan had retreated below deck. Even the Senche were able to squeeze through the trap doors, with the exception of S'nishi. Being a Senche-raht, she was much larger than the ship had ever been designed for. As such, she had no choice but to sit out on the deck in the downpour. Since all of their clothing, leather, and hides were currently being used to make tents, she had nothing to protect her from the rain. Additionally, despite the storm, Janius would not be able to find either Kaleeth or Newt anywhere below deck.

In the captain's cabin, Meesei had called for a meeting between Gallus and Ri'nakhad, whom she had ensured was among those placed on her ship. They were both soaked, seeing as they had to walk across the top deck to reach the cabin, but for Ri'nakhad, at least, it was not worse than spending the previous night in the hold. She had also sent for the family they had discovered among the cargo, though it would likely be a few minutes before they arrived.

"I apologize about making you walk through the rain, but I believe we should discuss the matter of the family we found aboard the ship. Obviously, they cannot join us, so we need to make a decision on how to deal with them." Meesei began.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors did not budge from his position, nor did he look back at Gallus. He simply started looking down, off the side of the ship. "Look, I understand what you're trying to do, but..." He trailed off, losing himself briefly in thought. After a few more moments, he turned back around with a more neutral expression. "I'll be fine, okay? I've done worse things to better people...or, well, not really worse, just...you know what I mean. If I can get past that, I can get past this. I need to get back to work; I'm sure you have a lot to deal with too."

Colors did not so much as wait for a response before walking away, presumably to continue managing the ship's new crew.

Bheja raised up his hand and shook his head likely. "Thanks, but no need. I assume she's looking this way, right?" He commented before squeezing his way between a few of the people in front of him, over to the railing. He reached up his hand and waved over to S'nishi, now visible thanks to being at the front of the crowd. Since she was now looking, it did not take long for S'nishi to spot him as well. Of course, at this distance, there was very little wither of them could actually do to communicate with any clarity, but by merely being present, they could confirm that they were both unharmed.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors continued to look away from Gallus as he walked over to the railing to look out over the ocean. "Yeah, they were slavers. Terrible people, about the worst out there. But Orub, some of the others, I called them friends once. You know why Orub first got into this business? A userer took his daughter and broke her legs because he couldn't pay his debt. Of course, he never got out of the business once his debts were paid, and someone did eventually kill his family, but still. He trusted me, and I just used that trust to kill him."

Once Tzirret lifted Ma'tanza up, she started waving at S'nishi and shouted her name. The Senche-raht was looking the opposite direction at first, but after Tzirret had been holding her up for about ten seconds, she happened to glance over in their direction. It did not take her long to pick out Ma'tanza waving over the crowd. The moment they locked eyes, Ma'tanza shouted over at her. "Sister, is M'ibasa over there?"

S'nishi neither nodded nor shook her head, but instead looked to the side and raised up one ear, which was her sign for saying she could not hear her clearly. Undeterred, Ma'tanza shouted the same question again as loudly as she could, perhaps enough to cause Tzirret some pain. But, this time, S'nishi seemed to understand. She nodded twice, then lifted up her paw and pointed it downwards. "This one...thinks that means he is down in her ship!" She said excitedly.

Peiter hugged Sabine in return, and began to rub her back gently. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Dry, hot, sandy, no food or water anywhere. But, apparently, we have more than enough supplies to get us through it. I've never been to a desert, so I don't know what to expect. I think our path is being planned by one of the clan who lived in the desert, though, so at least our leaders have some experience. I'm sure we'll be fine." He reasoned before giving her a rather long kiss.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Colors had just finished speaking to the ship's new helmsman when Gallus approached him. Though, he did not take to Gallus' compliment with near as much pride or gratitude as he might have expected. Instead, he turned his head and looked away uncomfortably. "Hmm? Oh, yeah...right." He said, taking in a quick, deep breath before continuing. "But yes, the clan. They're doing fine, remembering everything well enough. I feel like I'm correcting them constantly, but still. I wouldn't take them on a job with me or anything, but they should get us to our destination just fine."

Ma'tanza was not sure what sure what Tzirret was doing at first until he explained it. Getting higher up would let anyone on the other ship see her more easily, even if they still couldn't hear her. S'nishi could see over crowds with ease, so if she happened to look over to the other ship, she might notice them. Looking down to Tzirret, she gave him a nod. "Oh, you want Ma'tanza to climb on your shoulders or something? That makes sense. Maybe S'nishi will see her?" She reasoned as she attempted to climb up onto his back.

On the other ship, Peiter had returned to his human form as well, after sating his hunger on one of the corpses. Sabine and a few others had finished freeing the remainder of the clan in the hold, all of which had headed upstairs. Of course, that meant that the upper decks were now uncomfortably crowded. As uncomfortable as some of the clan might be about it, they would have to re-purpose the hold into a usable living space for the rest of the journey. Otherwise, the ship would still be too crowded to be bearable.

Walking up to Sabine, Peiter put a hand on her shoulder and let out a sigh. "Well, at least that's done. If everything goes well, getting to Orcrest should be easy from here. Though, this might be our worst sea voyage yet. No matter how you look at it, the ship is going to be crowded, and I'm not really sure where the rest of our friends are. Do you think any of the others are actually on this ship?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei returned a solemn nod to Gallus. "Yes, it is a sight which can leave a person scarred, one that they will never forget. If only everyone in Tamriel could be witness to it. Then, perhaps, it would not be so easy to ignore. Gone are the days of the mass enslavement of the Khajiit and Argonian people, true, but the fact that the practice can find refuge anywhere is infuriating."

As the Khajiit family was being led out of the hold, Meesei took in a deep breath, silent for a few moments in her thoughts. Though, whatever they might have been, she did not say them aloud. "Well, we still have much to do. We need to gather up all the cloth, leather, and hides we have to make enough tents for everyone. We will need them for protection against sandstorms. Anything left over we can use for bedrolls, and clothing if we're able. But first, find Colors and make sure he is having no issues coordinating everyone. Hopefully, the instruction he has been giving to the clan about how to operate the ships has been successful."

Ma'tanza's heart was pounding in fear as she thought of M'ibasa, so she ended up practically running up the stairs with Tzirret. They met up with Bheja and Qa'habi on the crew deck above them, then all ended up making their way to the top deck together. With everyone out of the hold and wanting to get fresh air, the top deck on both ships was getting to be very crowded. Undoubtedly, most of them would be made to head back down once they started getting the ships moving again, but they had some time for now.

Unfortunately, due to the crowd, it was difficult for Ma'tanza to even get to a point where she could see the other ship, much less pick out M'ibasa's face from the crowd. One thing that was unmistakable, however, was that she could see S'nishi towering over all of the others on the other ship. "It looks like S'nishi is over there. Well...at least M'ibasa will have her...if he's there. How are we going to get the attention of either of them from way over here? The ships might be close enough, but it might be too loud for them to hear."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei did not outwardly show too much of her surprise, nor the mix of emotions she felt upon seeing the rather shocking sight. She gave a brief reaction to the smell, but it did not linger long on her face. The discovery of these slaves certainly had the possibility of forcing alterations to their plans, but Meesei gave no hint of hesitation in her response. Her opinion towards slavery, and empathy for its victims, made the choice an easy one for her. "I want them to be given food and water. They should all be given a chance to clean up, and a set of clothing for each of them. Then, bring them to our healers so they can help restore their condition. I will need time to think on how this will affect our plans, but assure them that I will not harm them. I also want to know from where they were captured, and if there are any more aboard either ship."

Ma'tanza and the others were mostly finished with freeing the remainder of their clan-mates from the hold, but at that point, she could clearly see that M'ibasa was not among them. That, of course, started to make her visibly frightened. The only other place he could be, if he was still with the clan, was on the other ship. When she spotted Tzirret, she stopped releasing shackles early and walked up to him, one arm crossed over her stomach and holding nervously onto her other arm. "This one can't find M'ibasa anywhere. If he's not here, then he has to be on the other ship, right? Do you think he'd be on the top deck? Do you think we could see him from this ship?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Despite the fact that they had captured the ships, there was still much for Meesei to do. She had scarcely been able to confirm the captain's death before team leaders started arriving in the cabin. Overall, the reports were positive. The slavers had been taken off-guard in their ambush, which had been over in minutes. They were currently conducting a detailed sweep of both ships, and the structural damage to the ships was acceptable, and entirely internal. Neither hull had suffered any real damage.

It was not long before Gallus brought up the navigator, but mere moments later, one of the Bosmer warriors ran into the room behind him. Evidently, there was some kind of problem or other situation, which Meesei would likely need to deal with before getting into the more detailed planning. With all of the issues she needed to tend to, she decided just to give the others the tasks she could think of at the moment which needed to be completed while she dealt with this situation. "Okay, first and foremost, I would like a comprehensive report on any injuries sustained by the clan. If necessary, I want the healers gathered and a temporary infirmary established to tend to the wounded. Next, search the slavers' bodies and collect together all valuables and clothing. We are very low on cloth and will need as much as we can find. As for the bodies themselves, I want their meat prepared to be preserved with whatever salt we have, then stored."

Stepping away from the table and towards Gallus, Meesei gave the navigator a threatening glare. "As for you, we will speak in greater detail later. But for now, I want these ships heading north towards Leyawiin as soon as possible. And rest assured, we do in fact know our cardinal directions, so we will know if you attempt to lead us astray. Gallus, ensure his compliance." She ordered before finally addressing the Bosmer. "Now please, bring me to this situation with the cargo."

In the hold, Ma'tanza remained to help free those who did not wish to transform, and to see if M'ibasa was anywhere in the hold with them, while Bheja and Qa'habi joined Tzirret to head upstairs. Further back in the hold, Ahnasha, still in her wolf form, scooped up both Rhazii and Newt into her arms. She passed by Fendros and quickly addressed him. "I'm going to head up top. Rhazii, and probably Newt, need to use the latrine, and both of them want to be out of this place."