Mirna will continue exploring the hold.

Aalistair will head down the stairs behind Mirna, staff held at the ready, eyes roaming from place to place.

Primarily, Aalistair focuses on places where people could hide or the possibility of traps. In this last endeavor he is not very well suited as he has no knowledge of traps nor of windships beyond the occasional dry bit of tale heard over a cup of water at the end of a long day with other Aamanian pilgrims.

J'landria continues to search, but she seems to be growing a little weary and has been growing steadily more jumpy as they descend deeper into the ship.  She says nothing, but instead her ears shift and move as they listen to the sounds of the wood and her companions moving.

As the Marukans tramp over the plank and board the Wind of Fate, the others descend into the hold.  Rather than being closed and stuffy, there is movement in the air, and the lower hatch is open.

Mostly in the hold are foodstuffs and old storage, but there also appear to be several crates of spears still in the hold.

Out the open hatch, the rigging and a trailing rope can be seen.

Aalistair rushes across the hold and drops to his knees, his free hand grabbing the rope.

"Is there someway to close this hatch? And can we get higher," he asks.

"No! Wait! Get Kar to fly beneath us! Have him check this out from below!"

J'landria nods and dashes off to get Kar as requested.  When she reaches the deck she looks around for him, and when she spots him, she raises her hand.

"Hoy! Kar," she calls.

In reply to GM (msg #350):

With the Djaffir safely behind the barred door Jaxar would first go to ensure the levitational was safe, with the key this time, and then search the rest of the ship. He would take the time to escort Zosha to the levitational room and back to the safety of the main deck during his search.

Kar hesitates anly briefly aboard the Horn before gliding to J'landria's position on the Fate.
"Yes lady J?"

Her ear twitches and the corners of her mouth twitch up when Kar calls her 'lady' but beyond that she doesn't react much.

"Aalistair noticed a rope hanging down... And the back hatch of the ship is open.  We wanted you to look... to see if there was anything we needed to worry about," she says while gesturing where the open hatch is.  "Would you do that for us... Sir?"

She flashes a grin at him, but lets her face settle back to serious.

Kolarios hurriedly stepped over the gangplank with some haste and found himself on the deck of the Fate absentmindedly checking his belt to ensure that nothing had fallen off. He looked around the deck and smiled, fists on his hips, breathing in. ”The sweet smell of victory! I applaud you all, this appears to have been a hard-won prize. Well, obviously, it was… I was not there to accompany you. But, may I say with all honesty, that you seem to have done a decent job without me.” He looked up at the rigging and cocked his head. ”Do you know if anyone had opportune chance to swing from that there rope into a gaggle of bloodthirsty-fiends? It’s sort of my signature move and I’d hate to have to duel with someone for appropriating it without knowledge of my prior ownershipness.”

He looked around noticing that everyone seemed frightfully busy, banging around in the hold, or opening doors and such. He tugged at the sleeve of the one of the Marukans. ”Man, I say, man, did someone lose a monocle?” The brush-off received caused a bit of a stir with the Zandir who held his nose at the man’s back and hastily brushed his sleeve off, checking for a stain.

He moved further onto the deck and towards the young Jaka. Young? Now why do I think that, her ears seem to be as tall as anyone elses… far larger than mine own, even. He shook off his irritating internal monologue and focused on the task at hand. ”Fine work here, my lady.” He bowed at the waist again. ”I was informed of the precipitousness of the struggle with which possession of this vessel was appropriated to our merry crew. It would seem that some binding of wounds and the like may be in order and I, unsurprisingly, have some skill in that respect.” He coughed and leaned in. ”If there’s a scholarly sort of medicinal expertise aboard, I would certes bow out in favor of their ministrations but, needs must, I can assist.”

J'landria's eyes open wide as the Zandir first approaches, then speaks to her.  Her green gaze darts around and she shifts on her feet before looking back at the man.  She blinks a few times and returns the bow, but less deeply and she nods.

"There are a... few other healers here, but if you... know your way around bandages," she pauses then and looks around, trying to spot those who need the most attention.  "Hakim is injured, Wraith, and Aalistair too.  Although I think that Aalistair would turn down... anyone if they tried to aid him."  She lifts her shoulders in a small shrug, the normal rumbling growl rolling through her speech.  Her lips quirk into a brief smile.  "As for the rope... I think none of us... er, swung on it yet.  If you have a good hand... I know that help is needed with the," she pauses again, but her expression speaks of searching for words.  "Sails? Rigging?  We experienced some issues."

She looks at him for a moment, then one ear turns back and her posture straightens some.  The look in her eyes is almost eager.  "Unless of course, you are familiar with Djaffir... Then I could point you at a different task."

"Of course. Now that they are so close, perhaps I should check the Horn as well, to be on the safe side"

And again, kar launches first up, then over and down past the gunwale to check the hulls  and "Keels" of both ships carefully.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Sat 16 Oct 2010.

Kar flies under the windship once again, and sees the undermast and its associated rigging.  Upon closer inspection, he does find the hatch to the hold open and a rope trailing through it, lost amidst the rigging below.  There is no sign of anyone there.

Jaxar leads Zosha down, where she unlocks the small levitational room.  All appears well and secure with the levitational, as near as can be determined.  She locks it back up, and says to Jaxar, "We reached this place in a very short time.  I think we should be away lest we be pursued, do you not think so?"

In reply to GM (msg #363):

"Yes, Zosha, I agree we should be gone from this place. But to where? I would not want to draw our foes down upon Deadwood but I'm not sure how air-worthy we are right now or how our supplies sit."

In reply to Jaxar (msg #364):

The little Kasmiran looks up at Jaxar, eyes wide.  "I keep thinking of three hundred Beastmen mounted on darkmanes stampeding this way.  They could be here in minutes.  So, no, I don't know where to go, only, not here, not now!" she finishes, in an urgent whisper.

"Djaffir? Dirty buggers, hiding their faces. No thank you!" He looked around. "I can tend to the wounded!" With that he went around seeking out those wounded, professionally appraising the cuts and slashes with a short guess about the skill, or lack thereof, the foe that caused it and the weapons used.

((OOC: Healing magics available...)

Now that he has a starting point, Kar takes the time to check the associated rigging, and evaulate the possibility that some one could cross from here to the Horn, finally checking that ship closer as well.

In reply to Zosha Davij Inan (msg #365):

Jaxar heads back toward the main deck after verifying the levitational room is empty and secure, and that the door is locked. "Let us get our ship moving. I agree that anywhere is better than here."

Once on deck Jaxar calls out, "Wraith, let's get moving. I'd rather not be sitting here when that mob of beastmen and Rajans come looking for us. And lets see if we can avoid leading them towards civilization."

J'landria watches the Zandir move off and she smiles a small smile while shaking her head.  When Jaxar comes up on deck again she waves to him from where she stands and then moves to begin scanning the horizon for anything following the ship.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:07, Tue 19 Oct 2010.

Waiting in the hold, peering around the jumble that remains, Aalistair watches for the shadow of the Gryph to pass by in the darkness outside before hauling as much of the rope in as he can.

In reply to Jaxar (msg #368):

 Wraith says, "Well, we probably should avoid the Western Lands, then.  North will lead us into the frozen wastes.  The cold is known to splinter windships.  South takes us into warmer climes.  East will lead us all the way to the Kang.  In other words, we face peril, no matter which direction we choose.  I myself find Mirrin women quite alluring."

Before it takes flight, Kar is able to do a quick circle and inspection of the Horn, seeing nothing untoward, other than noting that the crew there seem much more sure of themselves, and more numerous, than the few uncertain hands on the Wind of Fate.

As he passes back below the Fate, Aalistair spots him, and begins drawing in the trailing rope.

The windship sits becalmed, as a decision on a direction is debated.

J'landria sees nothing coming from the direction of the Fangs, as yet.

In reply to GM (msg #372):

Wraith taps his foot and waits patiently as the crew drift about, acclimating themselves to the ship.  He shields  his eyes with his hand and watches Kar circumnavigate the ship.  Next, he drags his hand across the wound on his leg and grimaces.   That shall remain in the form the of a scar, he says to himself, propping his leg on a barrel.

Wrapping a sash around his head to protect it from the suns, he says, "What say you, Jaxar?  Any suggestions?   As I said before: there's peril in any direction - including West.  Since I am not the captain of this vessel, I will leave it up to you and the rest of our motley band to decide on a course."   
This message was last edited by the player at 01:13, Wed 20 Oct 2010.

After drawing in the rope, coiling it and setting it to the side, Aalistair will look around for a way to close the open hatch while keeping an eye out in the hold.

”Mirin women?” Kolarios skipped over near the Cymrillian. ”Do I have a story for you… did I already tell you this one? Never mind, it gets far better with each telling. It happened my first year on the Guard, a rookie unlike now, and very much wet behind the ears. There was this Mirin shopkeeper, lovely lass, brute of a husband, very sad story. One would weep for her plight if I had not rescued her from it… but I get ahead of myself I—“ He looked around and noticed that everyone was apparently involved in deep thinking about the question. What was that blasted question? He snapped his fingers with a satisfied ‘ah-ha’.

”I agree.”