Interregnum - A ship needs a Captain

[Ancelas]

Taliesin could quickly read that Bosun Toloma's title was very apt - she was very serious, and seemed accustomed to ensuring things got done. The Captains did not seem to pay her close attention, which suggested that they did not see her as an equal, exactly, but more of a respected voice for the assorted crews working in the shipyards. She seemed akin to a high ranking advisor.

"Get in line," Ashara said with a snort.

Diaz sighed and lowered his pipe, tapping it lightly on the edge of the table. "That can certainly be arranged - and you've more than earned the right to step ahead of said line." The halfling arched an eyebrow at the dragonborn, but the woman only gumbled and picked up a ruler, as though trying to determine the conversions herself.

"The trouble being," Diaz continued, "the Mareki aren't inclined to let us leave until we attend a few matters - the repair of their vessels, first and foremost."

"And the repair of ours," the dark-haired dwarf added.

"And the repair of ours," Diaz added. "A lot of ships in drydock right now. A lot of people looking to go home, soon as can be. All that being said..." The halfling raised his pipe back to his mouth. "Yaa'll are heroes in your own right, so I reckon something could be arranged."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin looked between the others and Sae. Ashara, now that was one to deal with. He liked Diaz as they seemed one of the more reasonable of the group. He measured his words and the state of the Captains against the apparent stance of Bosun Toloma.

He looked at the parchment on the table. "Are there ships and crews without Captains?" Initially he was looking towards Ashara, but then looked towards Bosun Toloma. He looked over at Sae quickly after, wondering if she would pick up the gauntlet from there.

[redcoat]

Sae wasn't sure she liked Ashara over much- she seemed like a bitch, to be frank- and Sae wasn't really in the mood to deal with her. So, she turned her attention towards the others, unrolling a map onto the table.

"We have business here-" she motioned to the prison- now headquarters of the Lord's Alliance. "We're meeting a few heads of state there before continuing on to Astor City, where I need to report to the Chapterhouse to give a status report, as well as deal with a political situation. I would prefer to be subtle, and flying in on a castle is anything but. I know most of the ships are in drydock- but our meeting at the Stronghold will take a few days and any ship could meet us there as we finish up work."

She looked to Diaz.

"I won't lie. We haven't had the best luck with airships, and any journey with us has even odds of being attacked in air. We don't need a fancy ship, or a good ship. But I do need a ship with a mildly unhinged crew. Pirates, smugglers, naval deserters, some weird fucker who straps himself to the mast during lightning storms- we aren't gonna ask a lot of questions. But this is a bit riskier than your average cargo run."

[Ancelas]

"Ahh, so that's what you mean by 'ships,'" Diaz said, puffing smoke out of the corner of his mouth as he leaned forward to look over Sae's map. "We've got six airships in good condition, all spoken for. Four more are being repaired, one of 'em being mine, and the other, also spoken for. They're currently our top priority - the last two are on schedule for repairs, but their captains are, sadly, no longer among us."

"Neither are a good number of their crew," the Bosun said neutrally, her voice thickly accented. Skyshroudian, most likely.

Arven Land folded his thick arms across his thicker beard. "Makes electing the next owner a problem we've been putting off for a while now. Not gonna beat around the bush, most of us, crews included, are eager to get the Hells out of this place. Had enough of these invaders and forced labor and whatnot... were this any other port, a crew like that wouldn't be a problem to round up."

"If you could trust them to do their jobs," Ashara scoffed.

"Be that as it may," Arven continued, "it's a safe bet no one's gonna want to risk one of the good ships on a mission like that. One of the spares, maybe, but it'd mean shifting resources around. Slowing down the chance for most of these good people to get back to civilization."

"Not impossible, mind you," Diaz observed, "but I'm sure you understand the difficulty we're facing."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin looked around, but was too taken aback by Sae's sudden burst of unfettered, unprovoked, and unfiltered honesty to see much into the reactions from each speaking member. It only took him a moment to collect his thoughts before he was able to respond.

"We have some sway with the Mareki. Though some of that is certainly grudgingly at this point. So getting one of the un-Captained ships moved ahead for repairs is not impossible." He looked out and about and then back to the map. "But to be honest, as much as you want your ships up and running to leave ... things aren't great to the North right now and taking a little more time behind the Mareki gives you a force between you and those that would imprison you again and take your ships."

He sighed somewhat and quickly added in "We also have the money to pay for a crew and any that want to move on after reaching Astor ... well I will personally pay for their airship or other travel to get back home if they wish."

[redcoat]

Sae chuckled. "My family owns a mercantile. I understand this part of the business well enough." Though she did not specify the nature of 'this part'.

Straightening her face, she looked to Diaz, Arven, and the Bosun.

"We've got skills- and an artificer- at our disposal. While I am sorry for the good people who wish to get back to civilization, my crew and I are trying to make sure there is a civilization to return to. I am certain they can weather a few extra days in well guarded port in the name of the war effort." Sae gave a smile that didn't go quite all the way up to her eyes.

"Now, as my comrade said, we are happy to bankroll a crew for this mission, and pay for their travel home once we get to Astor. However, this is quite an investment- as it appears we'll also be bank rolling a good chunk of the repairs." She looked to the Bosun, then to the rest of the Captains.

"How much to buy one of the ships outright?"

[Ancelas]

The Bosun's expression remained difficult to read, but there was a sense of feline amusement in the way she held herself. Arven frowned slightly at Taliesin's words regarding sway with the Mareki, and his brow furrowed at Sae's rundown of their options.

Ashara, meanwhile, appeared unimpressed. "Even damaged airships cost as much as seaworthy vessels. With the time investment needed for repairs, you'd be looking at 12000 gold."

Diaz puffed on his pipe and withdrew it from his mouth again. "Well now, in the best of times, that'd be a fair price. But as the Gunslinger and her bosun have observed, times aren't the best right now, and I reckon that warrants a bit of a discount, out of fairness' sake. How's about 8000? Can't speak to a crew, as that's Bosun Toloma's area of expertise, but we can at least offer a ship. We'd be looking at, say... two weeks repair."

Ashara didn't look pleased, but she didn't object to the offer either.

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin's eyes went wide at the price point and couldn't help but look incredulous. "12,000 ... 8,000 - for a Ship that has no Captain and possibly not enough hands to man it?" He then specifically looked at Diaz pointedly.

"We're no spring pups here. And I've spent enough time at the docks to know that if you're looking to get your ships up and running to leave as soon as possible you sure as shit aren't going to be repairing the ships that you can't man. Especially if repairing just one of them would be take two weeks. That makes those ships dead weight for you."

He looked over to Sae and then back to the Captains. "So you're either noting too long a repair time and too high a cost to convince us to lose interest, or you mean to take apart the spare ships and sell their aether stone cores to feel like you got something out of this experience."

[redcoat]

Sae frowned deeply.

"A bit more than what we're willing to spend, I'm afraid- and a great deal longer than I'm willing to wait. Tell me- what's the junk yard look like? You mentioned nothing salvageable, but we have skills and assets beyond what has been assessed."

[Ancelas]

Ashara chuckled mirthlessly at Taliesin's incredulity. "An airship is still an airship - they're more expensive to build than any ocean vessel and travel to far more places to boot. We wouldn't be repairing them if they couldn't be used, and there's certainly manpower enough to get them going. We get them functional enough to make it to a port, they can be sold off to a serious buyer. The only thing more valuable than an airship's heartstone is a functional airship with a heartstone."

Diaz spread his hands in a show of openness. "Perhaps it might be best to share what you're willing to offer. You're welcome to take a look at what the Mareki have towed to shore, but them's all shattered hulls and burst engines. With time and effort, you surely could put them back together - but given that we have both time and effort and still decided they were better off left for scrap, two weeks isn't too bad a deal."

"'Course, we could pay the shipwrights extra to get the job done quicker," Arven mused, stroking his beard. "Might take some massaging, telling them that they need to add a few more weeks of work before they can leave this blasted place on a ship they can't sail away on, but it's certainly doable."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin looked over to Ashara as she spoke, then to Diaz, and finally to Sae. "The first thing we offer is more stability in Samara which would allow you safer travel over the continent once more on top of possibly finding that one of the local kingdoms would pay good money to purchase whatever ships you decide to part with."

He looked to his own satchel of gold and then up to the Bosun."Once we're out of the Vale our next stop is Astor City. And I had enough coin myself to personally pay for any crew members travels if they wish to return home from there."

He looked to Sae a moment and then back. "We've battled and defeated squadrons of those flying fucks while aboard another airship, The Stormrunner. So our presence on the ship as defenders ensures that whatever ship we are on is at least making it to Astor City." He stopped there, letting Sae take over in regards to haggling a possible price along with detail of skilled work assistance, and whatever else she could muster from her mercantile brain.

[redcoat]

Sae waved off Taliesin. He was being helpful, but not particularly on topic. "What about an airship without a heartstone? Any of those lying around?"

[Ancelas]

Ashara barked out a laugh. "An airship without a heartstone's a lump of fancy timber. Not much good for much else."

Diaz cocked his head to one side. "Not really, but they can be removed easy enough. Captain Sidora might be a bit blunt with her observation, but the sentiment is true enough. Wouldn't be right charging you so much for a ship that can't fly, but what d'you plan to do with a grounded ship?"

To Taliesin, Arvan grunted. "Folks have been trying to make country after country safe for travelers for centuries, claiming this and that, throwing promises every which way, but bad shit still happens. Saying 'but this time will be different' ain't much in the way of currency."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin looked at Arvan. "I'm speaking specifically of the threat that took all of you. Rocs and Harpies are one thing. The occasional air ship pirate, sure. But right now, Kyr is under occupation from most of the same forces that took your ships and crew members. And while they have that foot hold they will continue to reach out and take airships as they can."

"We're actively addressing that. Hell, we've been in the Vale hardly a week and have crippled their forces here. And the Mareki barely got a chance to really get any fighting in because of us. We can't offer safety from everything, but we can certainly greatly improve what is currently available."

[redcoat]

"I have a heartstone, but no ship. If you had a ship with no heartstone, well, that'd make things easier for everyone. You wouldn't have to part with an airship that is repairable, and it'd bring the price into a much more reasonable range. After all, I wouldn't have expect to pay top coin for a useless hunk of timber, as Captain Ashara said."