Emerging from below deck Ralph calls back to Iron,

"It be fine Iron lad but there still be room for improvements."

Looking up as Sven yelled out orders Ralph doesn't wait to ackknowladge them but leaps straight to it the sails slowly unfurl.



"I'll be with ye in just ah few ticks' Ca'tin"

With a sudden gust of wind from Corrina's spirit of the skys, the good ship ShipNameHere leans into the breeze, and starts cutting the surf out of harbor. Thanks to the good steersmanship of her crew, the vessel avoids any hazards of navigation in the harbor (which is crowded, but by no means packed, with other ships--most of the smaller of which dodge out of the way).

The day is fair and the spirit's movement power backs a gentle, but powerful breeze behind you, which seems to turn with the ship. You sail north out of the harbor (the only way to go). To starboard is the deep, inky blue of the Atlantic, with naught in between but water, traders laden with goods from exotic Africa, and a bit of the blue water navy. To port is the Carrib-- rich with islands, mystery, and intrigue (not to mention Karnival Kruise Lines--the premier party boat of the CAS). The bow of the ship is pointed more or less towards Bermuda, a few days' sail north, and to aft is San Salvadore again, and beyond, the tip of Amazonia (eventually).

Sven looks to the northeast, as he pulls Ralph towards him as he gestures the rest of the crew inwards, "Yonder way be the triangle of Bermuda, it doth pull me as a place of plundering, many a ship hast been lost in the sea verily enough. What say ye, that we do polt for ourselves a course into that nether region, and find for us either deeds of heroism to accomplish, or a graveyard of lost boats to plunder?" He then stands, pointing to the southwest, "Yonder waters be nary a sight for the weak, tis a near limitless place of plundering, but filled with enough pirates as to make it seem less than visually desireable. But the chance for battle be greater, and the honor high as the pleasures that can be garnished. Each victory having a reward in innebriation and other loot. ", he then points westward, "That direction doth have a place of true battle, Aztlan. No battles would be greater, and no reward smaller, but the honor would be immeasureable. Battle doth pull me forward with a yearning I can but barely resist, to plunder the verily endless number of Aztlan patrol boats would yield us a name that would go down in history forever.", he then turns, facing the crew with a serious face. "You may choose our path, Exploration and Adventure to the Northeast, Riches and Intoxication to the Southwest, or Honor and Fame to the far west. Or perhaps you have another suggestion...."

Charlie leans in to listen to the Captain speak. "Well, I be liking the sound of the triangle. Plenty o' plunder thats down in the deep, and naught another vessel to be botherin' us."

Dusty may not be close enough to hear the captian's voice but he can see the big man's lips moving. He can only imagine what Sven's saying to the grizzled sea dwarf at his side but judging by the look in the shaman's eye, it was going be a pretty damn good day.

I love my job...YARRR! Dusty smiles to himself.

Corinna visibly flinches at the mention of Aztlan. "Let's not go west, ne? I hear that the Yuctan is particularly toxic this time of year, and that's put everyone from the peninsula to the coast of old Texas in a bad mood. Not to mention that, "Hey! Look! Aztlan!" is one of the biggest buzzkills this side of catching an APDS with your face. I think that Northeast is the place to go. Karnival should be gearing up for the season, making them easy pickings for party crashers. Tourists are always dropping things." She begins ticking off points on her fingers. "Trinkets, knickknacks, wallets, jewelry, kegs, small children, large dogs, medium sized boats..." She stops, realizing her hand has started shaking too much to keep counting on. Guiltily, she pulls a flask from the pocket of her lab coat, and takes a long drink. "Northeast!" she urges, sounding refreshed. "Too party and plunder! Yarr!"

With a turn of the wheel, Sven is able to angle the ship NE, setting a course for mysterious northern waters. The prow of ShipNameHere cuts through the lightly rolling waves, leaving a glistening spray in its wake. To port, small green islands are visible, just along the horizon, and San Salvadore is rapidly diminishing behind you.

Who is on what watch, and who is maning the lookout/sensors/big spy glass?

Sven mans the Steering wheel, relying on Ralph's navigational skills at the sensors to get them to the Bermuda coastline in the fastest way possible, "We'll be pullin inta the port of Hamilton a'fore I do grace the gods of sleep. Keep the sails full, and eyes open for oppurtunity my friends, Tis a long path til we come hither.", he leans over to Corinna, "Why don'tcha head down to the cabins hon, and rest thy body as thy mind scouts ahead for us...?", he asks of her quietly. "Dusty! Charlie! Watch that line, that pole comes swingin around and we'll be havin to pick you out of the water."

By now the boat is going at full speed, the Hydrofoils starting to show themselves above the surface of the water, reducing the friction further as the boat is pushed by the ocean wind and the spirit which visibly keeps the sails filled. The water is being skimmed over, leaving almost no mark as it flees along at top speed.

The wind and mist sprayed from the boat blows through the captain's long hair, and presses his silk shirt tightly against his body revealing one of the most muscular physiques a human could ever hope to attain. The smile on his face ruins it though, it's like a kid's smile at his own birthday party, but with sharp fang like teeth.

Charlie looks around before heading to the bow of the ship and looking out over the ocean as the boat skims along it. He grips the rail, not because he is worried he will fall off himself, but to reduce anyone elses worry of the same. I hope that theres something worth hauling up from the triangle. Last salvage we tried was terrible, wouldn't want that happening again. Fraggin' old boat fell apart as we pulled it up. Have to make sure to get a big net next time we're in port.

Corinna took the captain's hint, and headed below to her berth. She grinned and shook her head as she heard him bellowing at the spirit for, "More winds! More speed!" He'd let the thrill of rushing wind and looming plunder go to his head again. She'd made sure that the spirit at least knew to stop blowing well before it risked tearing the masts from the deck.

She took one last nip from her flask then tossed it onto the formless bean bag chair in the corner. She settled in comfortably into the nest of tangled sheets in her hammock, zipping up the top, just in case Sven decided to make any drastic course adjustments while she was out.

Then she closed her eyes and let her spirit slip free of her body. Almost immediately, the ship began to draw ahead of her, its walls passing through her astral body until she popped out the aft hull. It pulled away at more than twice her 'slow' speed, and she gave the spirit a friendly acknowledgment before going fast.

With a thought, she went up about half a kilometer, high enough that if there was anything weird in the water, it couldn't just rear out and snap her up. The sea was lit up below her like a starry night sky, the ShipNameHere a small gray shape cutting across it's surface. She sped ahead of it, passing over a kilometer of sea every few seconds, her 'eyes' searching for any other dim, large, moving shapes passing over the 'stars.'

She hoped there was a cruise ship somewhere ahead of them. She could still taste the alcohol from that last shot of rum like a coating of slime on the back of her throat. It'd be nice to get her throat around something top shelf. Maybe she could even get her pockets around an entire bottle or two.

She checked back on the ShipNameHere to make sure it was where it was supposed to be. At the rate it was going, it was going to take an extra long day to get to Bermuda. The captain wasn't going to be getting any shut eye any time soon, at least not until long after she'd taken over the night's watch.

That reminded her that she was due for her usual fifteen winks. She never had gotten around to sleeping last night. She could take care of that when she got back.

Ralph checked sytems sun postion time of day glanced at maps and rechecked yelling out course changes towards the Captain. God he loved the thrill of sailing and the prospect of richs was only icing upon the cake.

The ship appears to Corinna on the astral long before it grows much beyond a speck on the horizon. From a cursory inpection, it seems teeming with life. Forms move about her deck quickly, in a frenzy of activity. The ship itself is large, but not particularly larger than the ShipNameHere. It is moving slowly through the water, in no particular hurry, towards the west.

As she drew closer to the ship, Corinna dropped down to sea level, bouncing her astral form off the waves. It looked like another yacht, with a pretty good compliment of people. Having a party? She hoped so. She circled it, staying close to the water to help obscure her aura if there was anyone or anything on board that could see her.

She'd give it a good look-see, and if there didn't seem to be anyone astral or awakened on board, she'd go hang about on deck, see what there was to see, and hear what there was to hear, then report back to the captain.
---------------------------

Closer inspection of the vessel reveals no indications of astral patrols, however, the deck and hold are teeming with living auras, mostly in a state of desperation and distress. The conversation is largely a patois of a distinctly asian-sounding language.

Corinna drew up short, hovering just above the deck, looking down at all the auras. This was definitely _not_ a party boat. She tried to listen in on what was being said, but she couldn't understand the language they were using. It sounded asiatic to her, which narrowed it down to Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, or any one of a dozen other tongues. They sounded upset though, and the colors flashing through their auras indicated unhappiness, despair.

The ship's engines were running, so they weren't upset about being a drift. Since they were in the Caribbean, then the likelihood that this was a refugee boat of some sort was... well, pretty slim. She passed through the deck to take a look below (being careful to try and not go through anyone else; she felt it quite rude) and see if there was anything else she could discover about the boat.

---------------------

Passing through the ghostly forms of the spectral ship, Corinna observes that the vessel has one large central compartment that is filled with swarming and teeming auras, which after some peering, you recognize as fish in a heightened state of distress. Next to the large room is a smaller room, with rows of metahumans sitting at long tables. The fish auras are even more distressed here, although some glow faintly, or even sputter out before your very eyes.

Floating back above decks, you notice something you had not seen before, a smallish, but fairly intense aura glowing by the side of the man at the ship's wheel.

Ralph was loving it the sound of the wind the rocking of the boat as the waves lifted it, now this was the life no others clogging up the water ways like they did on land with those damn roads and cars aye this was the life. The party last night was a particulally exciting one yet it brought to mind a song he'd heard many years ago it was one from before....

"How did it go agin?...Oh yes thats right...
What shall we do with a drunkon sailor,
what shall we do witrh a drunkon sailer,
what shall we do with drunkon sailer,
erli in the morin
ooo are rais a bottle
ooo are rais a bottle
ooo are rais a bottle
erli in the morin
aye that be the way it went"

Rodger climbs up from below decks.
"Ralph, if ya is gonna flap yur jowls, at least get the words right."
Iron rolls along the deck swaying in time with the waves.

Ralph glanced over towards Rodger

"What? That be the way ah be taught to sing it when I was a lad. If it be wrong then ye sing it matey!"

he said,

"Auh come offa it. Tha versh 's got something to do with sleeping with someones daughter, or rusty razers, er something foul as such"
Roger rolls with a swell and braces aginst a gunwell.

"Ah what would ya do wit a drunker sailor
what would ya do wit a drunken sailor
what would ya do wit a drunken sailor
what would ya do wit a DruNKer sailor
Earl-I in da Morn-ing
Trice him up in a runnin' bowline
Trice him up in a runnin' bowline
Trice him up in a runnin' bowline
Earl-I in da Morn-ing!"

Roger drains the last from the bottle

"There be so many different verses, I could go on all day if ah so want-er-ed"

Corinna's astral form hung in midair for a few moments trying to puzzle out just what was going on on this ship. The people on it were unhappy, and the fish in the tank unhappier still. That in and of itself was rather odd, and then there was the room next door. Could've been a cafeteria, and they were cutting up the fish for lunch, or it could have been an icthylogical surgery. The astral enviroment was too muddled up with aura activity to be sure. The ship passed around her, and on the way out she noticed another, strangely bright aura by the wheel man. Her curiosity was piqued, but she knew she'd better get back to ShipNameHere and tell the captain what was up.]

It took her a few minutes to get back, and so she decided to just materialize in front of Sven. "Heya Captain, I found a vessel out there," she said, then gave him its position and heading. "Something funny's going on over there though. It's about the size of our boat, and it's got quite a few people on it. It looks like they need some help. I'm going back for a closer look." She dissolved, and was gone again with a thought, flying back to the other ship to take a look at that other aura.

----------------------------------

Hoving back over to the other ship, Corinna's astral form again peers at the strange dull glow. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be a focus--a blade no larger than a hand's length, with a intricately wrought handle. The knife glows with a faint blue light on the astral. It's glow is fainter than Corinna's suggesting that it is less magically potent than she. The knife swings loosely in a scabbard on wheel man's side, as he gently steers the craft and occaisionally hollering invectives at his crew. It is difficult to say whose magical aura is imbued within the focus, as the tendrils of magical ju-ju eminating from the knife grow nebulous and indistinct as they float away from the blade.

Ralph listened to rodger sing and nodded his head,

"Aye ye may be right that do be sounding better than me own ditty, I give ye this one but nex....."

His sentence trails off as Corinna manifests near Sven, and tell her tale his mind started to work itself into overdrive as he shifted mentally through the info she supplied Sven with. then as she vanshed again he started to work,

"I be working on the best course now Ca'tin just give me a secound, there I got it"

"Thou hath done well Ralph,", it was obvious that the Captain was more than slightly enjoying the feel of the wind on his face, his eyes having been closed for some time, "Why don't ye come hither and take the wheel then, thou hath more than earned it." He steps up to the bow, sitting with his face to the wind, nothing but the nose of the ship and the water before him. This is the position he's in when Corinna returns, he smiles and follows her out to the water, to take a look at the vessel himself.

Dusty tries to whistle along with the bawdy dwarves but he just doesn't know the tune. He consoles himself with a long pull from the flask hanging on a rope from his belt.

He braces himself agaist the wind by putting his back to the mast. He follows the cap'n's and Corinna's gaze as best he can but can't see anything on the horizon just yet.

Being too lazy to reach into one of his cargo pockets for the mini-binocs he shrugs, and takes another pull from the flask.

Corinna didn't stop to think that Sven might've followed along after her, and he took her by surprise as she emerged from below decks, having taken another long look at the room with the long tables and dying fish. Kitchen or veterinary clinic? "You have any idea what they're saying Captain?" she asked.
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