Jal had begun to turn away as Luna spoke up again, thinking on his putrid luck. Here, someone finally wants to join, and she's a pretty little thing whose only use would be without her clothes on.  Jal might as well fling himself from the bow and drown - at least then he would accomplish something.<br/><br/>But then he heard a word that stopped him dead and spun him on his heels to look back at the girl.<i>Mage</i>. The expressions of the other crew changed suddenly as well. The leering became wonder and fear, except for one fellow who didn't appear particularly bright, he stared in confusion.<span style="color: Teal">What she say?</span>He asked and another next to him answered in a whisper.<span style="color: Olive">She said she's a mage.</span>He clarified as his crew mate stared at him dumbly.<span style="color: Olive">It means can she light us all on fire with her brain.</span>The dull one's eyes widened and he voiced a long<span style="color: Teal">Ooohh...</span><br/><br/><span style="color: SeaGreen">I most certainly have!</span>Jal said, quickly rushing to Luna and putting an arm around her shoulders in more of a brotherly embrace.<span style="color: SeaGreen">Lads, meet Luna.</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Purple">Blow it, I don't want to rutt with no mage.</span>One of them protested, a wiry fellow with tattoos of skulls and snakes on his wrists.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Your not going to be rutting with her moron, she's part of the expedition.</span>Reshad said with a drawn out sigh. As they spoke though, another woman came darting up the gangplank, knocking Luna, who had been occupying the space, out of her way, sending Jal grasping after her to catch her and himself from falling. As it happened, the grasping was done, mostly by circumstance, upon Luna's breasts and hips.<br/><br/>Again the crew's expression changed back to the blank stares at this new girl who rapidly dropped behind the railing of the ship to hide. Not a moment later, a small gang of men rushed by shouting about a knife ear. One of the men on the boat was himself an elf, and immediately reddened with fury. He ran to the railing, standing over the new girl and started shouting curses and challenging the men. The rest of the crew joined him, shouting and taunting like the gang that they had been for so many years. The other men shouted back, but were dangerously outnumbered, and as they didn't see the woman they were searching for, they moved on, shouting and gesturing rudely at the ship as they left.<br/><br/>Jal shoved his way through his men, and looked down at the elf girl furiously. He was ready to ring her neck, but she declared she was looking to join the expedition and Jal's face opened to a wide grin. This one even looked ready to be useful. She was wearing armor, and even had weapons.<br/><br/><span style="color: SeaGreen">Absolutely!</span>He said and the men about her grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, a few hands straying where they shouldn't be.<br/><br/><span style="color: SeaGreen">And your name is?</span>He asked her. When she replied he beckoned her to follow him and nodded for Luna to do so as well.<span style="color: SeaGreen">Ladies, let's go have ourselves a drink and talk about the particulars of this venture, eh?</span>As Jal walked off the gangplank back onto the dock he turned and shouted madly<span style="color: SeaGreen">And the rest of you load the <i>fucking</i> crates!</span><br/><br/>Jal walked with the girls away from the docks, apologizing for his crew's behavior and explaining their previous occupations. He ensured them that they were capable seamen, though, and as long as you looked dangerous they were well mannered too. He asked them both how they ended up in Dairsmuid, as neither was dressed much like they were from Rivain. The talk was just courtesy, though. Jal was leading them back to the Captain's Rest to show them off. Not and hour and a half ago they had shooed him away like he was nothing, and yet here he was, with a mage and a fighter of some kind, and they weren't too bad looking of a pair either.<br/><br/>They maneuvered their way to the tavern and he opened the door for them. He looked around the tables with a cruel smirk, looking down at all of those who had spurned him. He walked with the girls among the suddenly silent tables to one obscured away in a corner with a lamp hanging above it.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">Well hell, Jal, I didn't know you were taking little girls on your expedition. I woulda sent my daughter.</span>The tavern burst in laughter and Jal's face reddened with anger, but he suppressed it. Soon enough they would be groveling at his feet. Soon enough he would have more money than they could all dream of.<br/><br/>He sat down and shouted at the man behind the bar, one with enough markings on his face to be the son of a czar, to give them drinks. He reached into his shirt and withdrew the map and, for the first time began to unfold it for eyes that were not his own. From the view of the bar, where the owner, Diego, stood, a corner of the opening map was visible and a seal flashed by before it was laid on the table. The seal was one that any pirate familiar with his history knew. A black screeching eagle with a shark's head clenched in its talons. It was the seal of Vendomur, a pirate elf from the dales of Llomerryn who had sailed some hundred and fifty years ago and had been said to have claimed a thousand fortunes.<br/><br/><span style="color: SeaGreen">And here it is...</span>Jal said, looking over the map. The map itself was scrawled upon a piece of canvas that looked like it could have been cut from a sail. Its black ink had faded to brown many decades ago, but enough of it was still clear. It was a drawing of a coastline with several markers noted and crudely drawn, as well as a noted point that seemed tucked away among what looked like cliffs, or mountains perhaps that ran near the coast. Jal lowered his voice to a whisper and put his back to the rest of the tavern to obscure any view of the map.<span style="color: SeaGreen">This here map lays a course to where Vendomur hid his fortunes.</span>He told them, giddy at the prospect.<span style="color: SeaGreen">Its hardly three days sail from here. If all goes well, we will be back in Darismuid with a hundred fortunes in less than a week.</span><div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>