The bartender does, indeed, have vodka.

"I've had this bottle for several years now," he tells Vasily as he pulls a dust-covered bottle out from under the bar.

"Does it go bad?" he asks before opening it.

"I don't get much call for it around here. In fact, you're the first person to ask for it in... well, ever!"

Detlef slides a few marks the bartender’s way. “Makes sense that the bottle hasn’t been opened in a long time. Fishing villages like this don’t seem to get very many foreigners and if you do the whole town knows it. Speaking of which, you wouldn’t happen to know about any other foreigners that have been around lately besides us would you?”

He looks at the other two. “See any familiar faces?”

"Ah, that is one of the beauties of vodka; it never goes bad!" Vasily smiles, then, at Detlef's question, looks around carefully to see if he recognizes anyone.

Vasily doesn't see anyone that he recognizes. People don't travel that much unless they are going off to war.

"Oh, we get a foreigner come through here at least once a week," the bartender replies. "Some are on that walkabout craze, some are looking for a homestead, and some are just going from one town to another with Gottkirchen in between."

"Without a harbor, few ships stop by here. We saw one go by two days ago. It dropped sails for a spell and we thought maybe some of the crew might come ashore, but they never did."

Detlef scratches his chin. “My my that does sound very peculiar. Perhaps they just needed to lay anchor long enough to do some repairs in a calm spot of the sea. Who knows. Would you perhaps be able to describe this ship? If we run across them, we could see if they need any help.” He looks to the two others for any sign of recognition if the man described the ship.

"Perhaps. It was a pinnace... three-master, level deck," the bartender answers. "The aft sail was green."

"The name of the ship was the Sea Rover."

OOC: I honestly can't remember what ship we're looking for, much less what it looks like.

"Well, let's all hope they've only had smooth sailing, but I guess we should probably be on our way as soon as the Captain believes the tide is right!"

"The sailor we are looking for is named Prad. He sailed from Wandesburrow on the Iphigenia," Valentino informs the others to let them know that the ship that was anchored here is not the one they are looking for.

"If no one came ashore, then that settles that."

"Oh, he did have a tattoo on his arm... an anchor with a snake around the anchor."

"Our concern is that he changed ships."

"We aren't looking for that pirate ship that sank the Southern Wind... at least, not at this time."

"Perhaps we should make haste back to the ship and let the captain know we'd like to make way as soon as the weather and tides allow, then?"

Detlef nods in agreement. “Hopefully we don’t need to result while we’re here. Let’s make haste while the tide may still be on our side.”

He nods to the bartender. “Thank you very much. Please excuse us.”

He then gets up with his payment on the table and starts to head out the door.

"Definitely," Valentino agreed with the others.

"We're not even really looking for the ship, but we had to make sure the sailor didn't disembark here for whatever reason. Doesn't look like he did, so it's back to sea we go."


He leads the other back to the beach to their boat, and soon has them rowing back out to the ship.

"Now, where to next--that is the question?" he says once they are back on the ship and the ship gets underway again.

"I guess we resume the path we were following; we may yet still catch up to our quarry."

Back aboard the ship, Captain Marino raises anchor and sets a course for Rurik. That was the other ship's supposed destination. If it makes a stop before then, they have a good chance of getting to Rurik before the other ship, as Valentino's ship is faster.

Valentino had been aware that someone had boarded the ship back in DeChaine, but as he wasn't the captain, it hadn't been his place to make enquiries.

Now that the immediate danger had passed, he saw Captain Marino escort her on to the deck.

"How fares the ship, Captain?" he asked Marcello. "And who is this enchanting creature?"

Vasily listens the interaction between the captain and the owner as he studies the newcomer with interest.

Ooc: Would he be referring to me?

OOC: I would assume so.

((OOC: Yes, he was referring to you, Alessandra! I figured that intro was better than waiting until the ship reached another port. Or maybe clinging to wreckage floating in the sea? ))

"May I present the Lady Alessandra Castillo," Captain Marino responds to Valentino.

"Perhaps she is another Seeker?"

"I have not had a chance to talk to her since she came aboard at Dechaine. Too busy watching out for pirates! Isn't that right, Simbu?" That last is directed to the lutung monkey perched on his shoulder. It is fairly small, black furred and has a round face that makes it look like it is a baby.

In reply to Marcelo Marino (msg # 304):

Ooc:Okay, just making sure.


Alessandra is delighted to be aboard a pirate ship, finding it a new adventure. When the captain mentions her name, she turns and smiles at the man. "A pleasure to meet you, Senor."

"If you have not yet heard from the ship's gossip," Marcelo says to Alessandra, "we are searching for the legendary Black Pearl as it may have surfaced recently."

"A sailor attempted to sell it in Avalon... if it was, indeed, the Black Pearl. We are now attempting to follow him."

"Several governments have offered a vast reward if the Pearl is brought to them. If the Pearl does what it is rumored to do, then it is far more valuable than that. As are most Syrne artifacts."

"So, do you, too, seek the Pearl?"

In reply to Marcelo Marino (msg # 306):

"Ah, really? How interesting." Alessandra smiles. She shakes her head. "No, I had not heard of it before now."

"If you are not seeking the pearl, m'lady, may I ask what brought you aboard?"

Quite naturally, since he owned the ship although he turned the captaincy over to Marcelo, Valentino, too, was curious as to what brought Alessandra aboard the ship.

"Perhaps she merely wanted to get out of Dechaine," Valentino offered. "What little we saw of it didn't exactly say 'welcome', did it?"

"Do you have any sailing experience, Alessandra? Or is this your first ocean voyage?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:44, Sun 08 Dec 2019.

In reply to Vasily Pavlychenko (msg # 309):

"I'm afraid I did not like Dechaine much. It was good to be out of there." Alessandra says thoughtfully."I've been on a ship many times."