Heian and Ger came back to the village, with Valxi dissapearing somewhere in between, and instantly approached the tavern, seeking more jobs to take.

-What do you think? Do we take something more casual this time? There's something about saving fishermen in hier - he pointed at one of posters. If they were gone long enough for that poster to appear, nothing would happen if Ger and himself ate something first.

-Let's eat something first

They entered the tavern, both ordering sea food. Not only it was one of their main goals on that trip, but also the cheapest of all options. They were on an island after all.

"Crescent moon", as he heard people calling the island, seemed to be a rather closed society despite living entirely of trading and fishing. So he got quite suprised seeing an elf walking into tavern. He smiled widely to a newcomer and waved at her. Feeling his madness spurt kicking in.

-Let's get another person for those fishermen

When she approached them, Heian showed her a table and spoke.

-We will be getting off soon, you want to earn some money? Not a big deal, a couple fishermen dissapeared. In and out, two hour adventure

"Getting some more people isn't a bad idea, if I've learned anything so far it's that these quests are never so simple as they seem." He laughs softly looking over the job post as he takes a seat. "With adventurer's luck, they will be surrounded by massive sharks or something that we have to fight off." Gerhart gives a grin across the table while they eat and wait for a third to join them.

An adventure at sea wasn't quite what he had envisioned, at least not yet, but it was something that was on his bucket list so it couldn't hurt to do right now. Collecting some fisherman probably wouldn't be that hard anyways, even if there were monsters, once they were out of the water, the monsters would likely go away. It seemed this was more of a timing thing when he looked over the details of the listing.

Gerhart chews on a shrimp as he thinks over the different things they might encounter as another person comes over. He gives them a bright smile, but is more than happy to settle back and let Heian take the lead on explaining everything. He was the captain of the ship they'd use after all.

Cyran hadn’t expected to be waved over upon first entering the tavern, a rather small establishment on the crescent moon island. He’d been in the city taking care of another matter of business, an embezzling merchant gone rogue that he’d been asked to take care of. He’d hoped for a meal and a moment of rest, but his curiosity got the better of him.

He approached the two, surprised at the mention of missing fishermen. He hadn’t heard anything about it, but then again, he hadn’t been on the island long enough to pick up much in the way of rumors.

The job sounded simple enough, though the man who’d spoken left out a lot of details. Not that it mattered- Cyran had taken on jobs with less information before. Cyran gave them both a polite smile.

“How much money are we talking?” He didn’t need a whole lot to get by, but he did need enough to survive. “A two hour adventure, you say? It certainly sounds interesting. Luckily enough, tracking people down is part of my job, and I’d be happy to help out. My name is Cyran. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

-Nice to meet you, my name is Heian and this is Gerhart

They both stopped eating for the time being. The job could wait, their guest could not.

-The payment even split for three is more than enough for such a simple job and we won't be tracking in a conventional way. Once you will meet Bastion you will get what I mean

He smiled mysteriously and saw a similar grin on Ger's face. Seeing Bastion was usually a funny experience to watch.

Heian bought another plate for Cyran, as well as a cup of vine. They could get to know each other better, there is always time for opening to new friends.

-Enjoy the meal for you will suffer with us later - Wood joined the conversation, as always when no one expected him, including Heian.

The latter sighed, having to explain the situation all again.

-This is William, my not so inner demon. Other than abusing verbally most people he meets he's a rather nice guy. For a demon that is

-I love you too, my average human

Heian waved off Wood and remembered something while doing so.

-Oh, I told Ger already, but we will meet William's sister. She's still not used to... the world... so try not to anger her. And don't look my crew in the eyes while we're at it

"You know I had been meaning to ask about your situation, but that...explains a lot. i just didn't want to be rude." Gerhart lets out a small chuckle. "Gerhart Stanislav....let's hope this adventure really is only 2 hours." He stretched his arms making those little noises you make when it is a really good stretch.



"Thankfully, we already have a ship, so that at least makes all of this easier. I've tracked plenty of animals, but people is a new game to me. That said, all told I can't imagine any of us struggling with this one.....Though it does seem odd that they would post this up as a job. Kids lost in the woods I get, but fishermen at sea? Something about this seems, forgive the wording, fishy."



As optimistic a man as he was, he was learning to be cautiously skeptical of things during his other adventures, never take anything at face value. "It makes me wonder if maybe there was something else in that storm.....or if its way, way worse than any of us are expecting.....either way, hope you know how to swim!" Another grin and a laugh from the young adventurer.

"Bastion?" Cyran asked out loud, confused at Heian's amusement. The two adventurers seemed to take amusement in being purposefully vague. He guessed he would just have to wait and see that the two meant. He nodded in polite thanks when Heian brought him a plate, though the second voice startled him a bit. None of his shock showed on his face, as he carefully schooled his expression to avoid from offending anyone. He was used to meeting strange individuals through his travels. He did, however, acknowledge Heian's warning about William's sister and the crew with a bewildered nod.

He had to hide a smile behind his hand at Gerhart's wordplay. "I do agree that something about it is strange. If they're experienced fishermen, they should have been able to weather the storm..." Perhaps there was something out there. "Let's just hope they got unlucky and couldn't control their boat."

He took a thoughtful sip of wine as he composed his thoughts. He'd never tried to find people lost at sea, but there was a first time for everything. "I'm a decent swimmer." He replied. "An adventure on the open seas is a first for me, though. You two said you already had a ship? When are we planning on setting out?"

-We are ready to head out at any moment. Let's finish the food and introduce you to Bastion
Heian and Ger finished first, so the first ordered two more drinks for them. When all plates and glasses were empty, they left the tavern and went down the pier.
Bastion Remnant could already be seen, and while standing out it was just one of many ships in the port, many looking sumptous, so the effect would not be lost.
They stopped by Bastion, all three admiring the view.

-Behold our child

The vessel was cleared recently, bright red colored wood shining in the sun. Yellow pattern on the sails seemed even more bright that it actually was and the top deck seemed almost as if covered in ice. The "leaves" on frontal statue could probably be mistaken with real ones, if not their unnatural density. But the beam was white at all times, Heian never allowed it to go gray. And crew respected that, realizing it was something personal, they wouldn't have anything against it anyway. Frontal statues usually symbolised their ancestors, which were much more important for a race that rarely died of old age. Murmur was a great exception that proved the rule.

"Sounds like we should be all right then." He nods as Heian gets ready to leave. "Best not to let them float out there for too long. If they were caught in a storm then they could be injured, probably dehydrated as well, lots of thrashing will also attract plenty of hungry things to the surface."



Gerhart followed behind the two, taking up the rear as he usually did to keep an eye on their surroundings. He wasn't worried about being attacked in the streets, but might as well keep a look out for anything interesting whether it was good or bad. He was still light-hearted and smiling, but his actions were a bit more controlled as he started to get into work mode a little bit. Gerhart gave Cyran a moment to look over the ship before motioning for them to get on board.



"No time to waste fellas, time to prove to Cyran this ship isn't just all talk!" Another bright laugh as he boards the ship and immediately gets to work helping get it ready to set sail having watched how his crew did it a few times now. Tying knots and securing things into place was easy enough for him.

Cyran was not the most experienced with ships, but as the three adventurers stood to admire the vessel in front of them, he could tell that the design of the Bastion was unique. The three climbed aboard, with Heian taking the lead and Gerhart sticking behind, leaving Cyran to observe his surroundings, cataloguing everything as he went.

That was when he saw the crew and immediately understood Heian’s earlier warning.

Gerhart immediately got to work, jumping in to help the crew where they needed it. Cyran wasn’t sure how he could help, but idle hands were the devil’s playground, so he figured he would at least ask. He turned to Heian. “It’s an impressive ship. Is there anything I can do to help set off?”

Once again Heian's head went shaking.

-The crew works best on its own, Ger tormented me until I found him some place. I got a couple books, cards, but otherwise there's not much to do, sorry about that

He then led their new companion to quarters, on the bottom deck. 6 of them were still free to lend.

-Hier's your room - he showed a door with "6" - by following the corridor you will reach my private room, just don't knock at night without a reason. You can ask Murmur as well, he's the second in charge. Tall, white fured, really talkative for an enderian

He was about to go back on main deck, but stopped when remembered something.

-I will have to buy supplies for us, most food on board is for crew. Do you need anything right now?

Usually the only human on the deck was himself, with Sarris coming from time to time. But they rarely set off together and additional rations didn't seem pending. So all Heian currently had was a small chest full of packages of long lasting, salty stripes of meat. And he and Wood could survive without food much longer than the rest of people. It wouldn't be pleasant, but they would survive.

"I'm not a guy that can sit idly by and watch others do the work if I'm capable of pitching in." He laughs a bit before getting called over to do some more help. Gerhart really did keep to that work ethic until it was time to set sail and more experienced hands were needed.



Eventually he did make his way down to join the other two, "Phew, certainly is a lot to do on the ship." Another little laugh and grin as he wipes the sweat from his brow. "How far out are we from their last known location? Wondering how wide an area we should be searching.....not really sure how far out a storm can send people." He scratched his cheek in thought, hoping the other two might have more thoughts or plans to offer. At the very least he would trust Heian's judgement seeing as he looked like the only one with any actual sailing experience under their belt.

“I’m alright, thank you.” Cyran politely declined Heian’s offer of food. As someone who rarely stayed in one place for long, he kept enough rations on his person to take care of himself. “And thank you for the room.”

When Gerhart rejoined them, Cyran turned to Heian as well. He had no clue how to navigate the waters- logically, they should have been pushed far into the open ocean, but storms were hardly logical. They were a pure force of nature, one Cyran didn’t quite understand. Since he had been invited along, he felt the need to offer his thoughts nonetheless.

“If they’re stranded in the ocean, I assume they’d be pretty far out. It would probably be safe to take the ship further to open waters and start sailing around the radius of the island. Then again, I defer to the judgement of the captain.”

He turned to Heian, joining Gerhart as they both waited to hear what he had to say. When they picked their course of action and set off, Cyran would go above deck and play lookout for the missing sailors. At the very least, he had keen eyes and could make out shapes in the night where most couldn’t.

Heian listened to them both and took a moment to think. There were high chances those fishermen were stuck on one of shallows or sea rocks, otherwise they would be dead or manage to return. So the quickest method would be to hire someone knowing their locations.
-We can either make bigger and bigger circles around the island or hire someone that knows all dangerous places a boat could get stuck in. The second option is more viable
Of course the price would be horrendous. All guides probably already knew about the situation and would quickly realize what Heian's trip was all about. 

A couple hours and 100 solars later a guide called Jeremy Bottle joined their crew. He looked like a stereotypical retired sailor, dense, gray beard, a sailor cap knowing better days, similar coat. And a bottle of something stronger than water never leaving his hand.
Some said he was crazy, but also he was the cheapest of the bunch, so Heian hired him. Madmen had to stick together.
With a new personon deck they set sail, hoping to find something more than an empty boat or a couple eaten by fishes skeletons. At least they didn't have to bother about the weather, the sun was shining like if in an atrempt to vaporize the sea.

"If we come to a worst case situation, tie a rope to me and I'll swim out to get them." He grinned with full confidence in his abilities if it came to that.



While Heian searched for a guide, Gerhart spent a bit of time making sure he had enough first aid supplies if the people came back alive. On top of that, he grabbed some more water skins and rations, if they had been out at sea for awhile they were probably thirsty and hungry. He's back on the boat in plenty of time before they set sail.



"I can take the crow's nest and look out if you don't mind...I kind of always wanted to be up that high. It looked cool from seeing other ships." Gerhart's grin is soft and nervous knowing how childish it sounds, but he was going to take full advantage of this opportunity while he could.

If allowed, he pretty easily climbed up the mast and along the rigging to get into the crow's nest, sitting with a proud smile. If not, his spirits were not dampened, there was still plenty for him to do on deck as they started out to the high seas.

The salty, bitter man who called himself Jeremy Bottles was definitely off his rocker, but Cyran supposed a little insanity was necessary for someone in his line of work. He was bitter and hardened by the elements, and he moved like a man who had a healthy respect of the dangers that the ocean held. He also liberally drank from the bottle he always kept clutched in his hand at random intervals, and had the most foul mouth Cyran had ever heard.

He decided to wander the deck as the Bastion set off, watching the Enderian crew go about their tasks. Gerhart had disappeared a while ago- he thought he saw the man make his way up to watch the view from the crow’s nest- and Heian was off taking care of whatever business a captain handled. Admittedly, Cyran wasn’t quite sure what was necessary to keep a ship running.

The sun beat down on his back, and soon enough, Cyran began to feel hot in his thick jacket. He pried off his coat, stripping down to the sleeveless tunic he wore underneath. After he delicately placed the coat in his bag, Cyran was free to feel the slight breeze on his arms. He approached the side of the ship, taking a moment to breathe in. Jeremy stood at the rails not too far away, overlooking the waters and muttering to himself. Most of it sounded like gibberish, but Cyran managed to catch the tail end of it.

“Wind’s not right.”

“I beg your pardon?” Cyran asked, unsure if he’d heard right. But then Jeremy turned to look at him, eyes glassed over in a haze of alcohol and vision loss, pupils an eerie color of milky white.

“Wind’s not right.” He repeated. “Not right for sailing. The storm’s still here. She lingers.”

Cyran rested his hand on the wooden rail, looking up at the sky. The sun was still high in the sky, with not a cloud in sight.

“I’m not sure what you mean.” He said uncertainly, turning back to Jeremy, but the old sailor had already begun wandering off in another direction, leaving Cyran alone overlooking the sea.

Had the ocean made him paranoid? Cyran had no idea, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He wandered off in search of Heian to deliver the old man’s mutterings.

The storm is still here indeed…