The group was in high spirits and good company, laughing and joking for almost an hour.  Doxi found the girls had spent most of the day shopping.  The interesting thing was what they had spent their money on.  Gondrith and Cassie hadn't been with the crew long so their purchases were small things, trinkets really.  But even these things spoke of their personalities.  Gondrith had found some ancient emblems, relics from old armor sets worn by dwarven clans men and women that were distantly related to her own.   One emblem, shaped like a shield and about two inches around, bore a striking resemblance to the emblem she wore on her armor currently.<br/><br/>"Tis my clan symbol," she explained, "This one's at least two hunnert years old... predates the last war.   Got it for only a couple of platinum.  Sure'n it's common an' all.  But when I saw it, I knew I had ta have it.  Gonna get it afixed on me armor tomorrow."<br/><br/>Cassie on the other hand had a small vial of holy water.  "Apparently Shoni worship has become more mainstream here in Sharn than in other places in Khorvaire.  It has to do with the fact that High Priest Johan helped resurrect the faith from obscurity here over sixty years ago."   She held up the small crystal vial, which bore the image of the cup and sword on it.  "This was water blessed by the High Priest himself.  I suspected the merchant of dishonesty, as purveyors of relics often are.  But Janmorel was able to ascertain that it is magical, so it's not just rainwater, and the man, while a follower of the soverign host swore up and down that it was one of a dozen bottles he'd been given by the current high priestess of the temple as payment for some task he'd preformed.  A half elven woman by the name of Note who rides about Sharn on the back of a great golden eagle apparently?"<br/><br/>Janmorel's purchases were both less interesting and more.  She looked ashamed that her purchases were 'boring' but Doxi, as a fellow engineer of sorts, knew the woman's obsession.   Bags full of wires of various metals, small tabs of various ores, compounds, glues, and reactants... It wasn't much to look at, but Doxi had a feeling that it would likely keep the Virtuous Maiden running for years to come, and likely go to more of the quirky, quiet, engineer's pet projects which never seemed to work.<br/><br/>Stoella on the other hand went all out in 'girl mode.'   She'd gone clothes shopping and had enough to fill her foot locker.   Meaning at least half of it was going into storage in one of the cargo holds.  But her delight at silks from Valenar, buttons with pearls from the Lhazaar principalities, and ultra fine wool from the Eldeen reaches was unmistakable.  She made no appology and no bones about having spent so much money on clothing.  But she did add also that she managed to secure at least one crate of fresh fruits straight from the jungles of Q'Barra.  That with Doxi's word and the funds out of the ship's kitty, she'd make sure it was sent along tomorrow.<br/><br/>The mood was light as Doxi listened to all of this and only then was there a rapping on one of the windows.   Everyone looked and saw a large crow pecking at the window pane.  Gondrith commented how funny it was, but the older crew of course knew.  Janmorel hopped up and opened the window, letting the crow fly into the room.  Then in a matter of seconds the crow landed, grew, and shifted and Marek stood among the group, a wide grin on his face.   The illusionary leather armor looked rather bland on him, and did nothing to show off his phyisique, but he grinned and said, "Captain, if ever we part ways, and I must live in a city, it must be this."   Then the druid, normally stoic and silent, proceeded to tell about what flying in this area was like.  His descriptions of the towers and the freedom afforded the manifest zone to the plane of air...<br/><br/>Finally all was settled and everyone was relaxed and Stoella was the one to bring things back to order.  "So captain,  It's getting later in the evening and I know I'd like to get some food in me before I find out what this district has in the way of pleasant company.  It's been a while since I had a cock in my nethers and a pussy on my lips that didn't belong to a crew mate or passenger ... and I intend to rectify both of those oversights tonight.  So did you have some orders for us before we went out for the evening?