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Closed Relic of the Lost God

Taking one last look over the dock, Ming lets out a sigh and called for Greed to pull up the gang board. With a nod from her first mate, she takes the wheel in hand and awaits for the deed to be done. She looks down at the crew before her, a slight frown on her face. "This is how many arrived during the night and day?" she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she rested against the wheel and watched Greed pull the board away from the dock with his own force alone.

Then the whining of a young boy reached her ears in regards to the task Greed set for him. She narrowed her eyes and glared down at the lad, finding it to be their new Guppy. Seems he was tasked with swabbing the deck and wasn't too pleased with the fact. Glancing to her faithful Golduck, she motions for the pokemon to hold the wheel as she venture back down on the deck.

"You seem displeased with your new task, Guppy. I fail to see where you had a real say in what you'd be doing on my ship. You joined us, putting your life in my hands and the first thing you do is complain? Tsk tsk, Guppy, you act like you never heard how cruel Pirates can be when a crew member whines...But I could overlook this if you can provide proof that your skills are better used in other parts of my ship."

She folds her arms and stares down at the boy, a slight smirk on her face. "Time to show me what you got before I toss you into 'time out' little bratling. Chop chop"
----

Greed glances over to the deck after pulling the board away, rubbing his hands on his pants when he notices the Captain bearing down on the mouthy kid with the mop. With a soft hiss, he steps out of line of fire and leans against the rail with his back to the prow and the figure that rests there. Glancing over his shoulder, he studies the Milotic carved in the prow and the orb held in her mouth. With a small smile, he looks back to the crew and beckons the others to come over to him while the captain was busy playing with Guppy.

"Lets see where I'll place the rest of you..."
 
"Lets see where I'll place the rest of you..." the strange one called.

"I can repair" Shane said, aloud, walking over. "I have tools with my Madeline, my Jellicent, enough to patch up most anything this ship gets into. I don't know much about ships, but I suppose I could learn to rig the sails and so well enough, if it was required. Same goes for working below decks with cannons. I can play a tune well enough, have an instrument with Madeline, though I can't imagine that being especially useful or anything. If we ever get into a spot of trouble-and we will, I'm almost sure we will-I'm not the best to send out to fight. I've got fast legs, and an amount of courage that suits them. Don't expect any heroics from me, save that for the headstrong lad over there. He'd jump at the chance, you can just see it in him".

He stepped back, took a look around the ship. There was a picture of a vast Milotic, carved into the wood with an orb in her mouth. It was strange, unsettling. Was it just the way the sip was rocking from side to side, or was that Milotic moving? Shane felt an overwhelming urge to go over to it and examine, but he had to hear what this man had to say. Besides, it wasn't as if he would never see it again. This tiny ship would be his home now. He could stare at it all day if he wanted. Shivering from the thought, he turned back to the crewmaster and awaited an position to take command of.

Another thing unsettled him about the ship, and that was the lack of women. Aside from the Captain, everyone here was a guy. It was likely to be a rough ride, indeed. He began to fidget, slightly regretting the decision. Was this really smart? Casting his life aside to some ghost ship? Adventure seemed well and good, but...was this what he wanted? He wasn't sure, and the ship was to pull away soon...but he'd be damned if he was going back there. He could leave anytime he wanted, when he was far, far away from home. He'd stick with the ship for now.
 
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"No disrespect intended, Skip," Xhan looked at the Captain, though he stared at her nose due to him finding her eyes a bit creepy and interrogating. "But considering the number of people who have shown up, you're lucky to have me on board." He smiled a little to himself. He thought it was a good argument. Whether the Captain agreed or not was hard to say.

"As per my skill set, well I've never sailed with pirates, I can say that much. I do know a bit about cannons. I admit, my knowledge is limited to Cannons. What do you think these goggles are for? But, hey, will you really complain with these numbers?"

Maybe the good captain wouldn't look at him like he was a old wet fur coat with the hairs falling out. Yeah, take that, pretty-boy. GOIN' TO THE TOP!!

Of course, Xhan wouldn't be surprised at all if the Captain ignored what he just said to prove himself, and ended up shoving the mop into his chest saying, 'get to work, swabbie.' She certainly seemed liable to do something like that to him. Maybe she just has a problem with me. She doesn't like me for some reason. Huh. Hope this isn't an 'earn Skipper's respect before you can do squat on the boat. Never have commanded much respect.
 
"Repairs...that could be useful if the ships lets you work on her. She's a gentle girl, but a little shy when it comes to repairs...but we'll see soon enough. You all however will learn how to tend to the sails since it takes a small group of people your size to pull that rope to lift the sails. Though that Machamp over there could probably handle it, but hey some of you should get the chance to work those muscles"

Greed grinned down at the lad, shifting against the rail until he was sitting on it. He glances out to the water with a smile, watching the light reflect off of it. "There will be chores for the lot of you, since this is a vast ship and anything could happen. This very ship was once a Navy vessel that would chase us through the waters...but it didn't take long for Captain Tora to take over and send the Navy's crew adrift on a lifeboat off the coast of Spain."

His eyes then grow darker, his smile slipping as he turns his head a bit toward the prow. Falling silent for a few moments, he mutters to shoulder over his shoulder before raising his voice to the ones before him. "Be warned though. The Captain will only take so much of one's foolishness before booking them a trip to Davy Jones. She may be a woman, but she's a hellcat if you ever seen one. Don't start thinking you can best her in tactics and battle...which reminds me. Once we are far enough from shore, we'll start training you for battle."

--------------

"Cannons you say, Guppy. And what pray-tel do you know about them. Can you load one, are you able to use the right amount of black powder without blowing a hole in the side of a ship, are you able to aim or even tell when to shoot. Are you even aware of how many cannon balls you'd have to transport from one place to another and do it in enough time before another ship fires at us and sinks us to the depths. If you can't answer to all these, then swabbing the decks you'll do until I'm sure you are responsible and obedient enough to be trusted with such a task."

She hooks her foot under the handle of the bucket and kicks it up, grabbing the hnadle in her hand without a drop of water spilling over. She places the bucket on the crate next to the boy and leans in, staring him in the eye. "We all start somewhere and from what I've seen so far, you are a child. Keep the mirth, I won;t fault you for that, but you better learn that this is not a pleasure cruise. You can die out here if you don't listen to what is told of you."

She then leans back and steps away from him, turning on her heel and folding her arms behind her back. "If you can prove to me you are capable of these task, I'll set you to another. One way or another, I'll make a Pirate out of the lot of you Guppy. Lets see how long it takes for you to prove yourself."
 
To one listening close enough, a faint sound was audible - the soft thunk-tap of mismatched feet on wood. The sound came louder after a moment, coming from the bellowdecks, until a door to the crew quarters was opened, and a hunched-over man stepped out, then straightened once he was past the doorframe.

The tall man straightened out his coat a bit, standing in front of the open door into the lower areas of the ship, cane in one hand as the other slipped into a pocket. At his feet, and enormous Galvantula skittered from the quarters, stopping with her body low to the ground, many shining eyes watching the newcomers. The man himself watched for a moment, before making his way towards The Captain. His false leg and wooden cane clicked against the wooden deck as he walked, and he drew to a stop just behind her. The Galvantula quickly followed, many legs clicking over the deck.

"This is all you could find, zhen, hmm? Not very impressive, zhough better zhan nozhing..." he looked around a bit, eyeing Xhan in particular. "New Boatswain?"
 
Ming smiled a little as the man stopped behind her shoulder, shaking her head when he questioned if this was all they were able to get. "Aye, this is all we have from this port...but I have other stops where we can find others. Maybe that one place is still around with the loose vitrues and cut throats...And isn't that a little high on the rnaks for this one, Fritz." She ended with a chuckle, turning to the man and looked him over.

"See you are keeping your dress in form. Such a vanity to you...but due to where we are, a little Pride can't hurt you on the St. Virtue where we feed and break other sins." With a glint in her eye, she glances down to his spider companion. Kneeling down, she pets the fuzz on the arachnid's head and clicked her tongue a little. "Once we get moving and are out in the water, how about we continue that Chess game...after you take a look at the new crew members of course. Can't have you pouting if I don't let you poke at them for a bit. But do be careful...they aren't quite under the boon as we are."

She straightens up and heads to the stairs, taking each step two at a time until her hand rested on the wheel once more. Thanking Sedna for keeping the ship steady, she looks to the sails and smiled, whispering a few words to the wind. No sooner had she stopped, the sails billowed filled with the wind, and the ship pulled away from the docks in a smooth flow. Turning the wheel in her hand, she eases the ship around until its prow pointed to the raising sun.

"Let the adventure begin...I pray these kids are ready for the trip"

----------------

Holding onto the rail, he looks over to the Captain as she moved the ship while he was still sitting on the railing. With a sigh, he slips off the railing and plants his feet firmly on the deck and folds his arms over his broad chest and lowered his head, muttering to some phantom again in relation to "I wish you could have warned me about that". shaking his head, he looked back at the group before him again.

"So, any of you have melee weapon experience...or experience in Hand-to-Hand combat?"
 
(( OOC: Sorry for being away, there's been a bit of a panic about results day..... I should be fine now though :) ))

Nathaniel was almost knocked off his feet as the ship lurched, his hands flailing at nothing in an attempt to stay up. When he finally regained his balance, he heard the first mate - Greed, was that his name? - say something about experience fighting hand-to-hand.

"Well, I've not had much reason to fight - who'd fight over books? But, well, I guess I'm okay with a knife," he said, trying his hardest not to trip over his words. Arceus, I sound so stupid. He pulled the knife in question out of the strapping holding it to the outside of his thigh, the metal glinting slightly in the sunlight.

Kay, meanwhile, was eyeing the Galvantula from the shadows, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. The thing was over twice her size, but the Meowth showed no fear. That was probably stupid, but Kay still had the fearlessness of youth on her side.

Even if she was a little small.
 
(Highmoon, you're mixing past and present tense. Not sure if you're aware of this, but anyway.)

"So, any of you have melee weapon experience...or experience in Hand-to-Hand combat?" he said. This was a question Shane had been expecting, if not dreading. But before he answered, he gave a moment to mull over his previous statements. The way he had been talking about the ship...Sounded as if he thought it alive. That was strange. Was it just his love for the ship that had been his home for however many years? Or was it something....more? This ship...it couldn't....it couldn't really be...could it? But...he felt it. There was something in this piece of wood, something that meant...something. It was hard to grasp, really. But it felt alive. It felt more than just a home, more than a place where men slept and ate and lived, more than a place where they're lives took place. Or maybe it felt just that...And then a strange man came out, wearing strange clothes, and started talking...the word strange was being seriously overused in his description, Shane thought. But it was all that suited him. He was the personification of strange.

But the question needed an answer. He flt he may as well be the first. "Little. I'm strong, but have little in the way of form or style. I suppose that will need to be taught to me. But I can swing fair enough, any decent smith can beat on skulls as well as metal. Might just be that a hammer in my hand would do me just fine for this. Might be that it won't. That would be your call, I think".
 
"For the record, Skipper, people die on land just as easily as sea, and I have been fairly close to doing so several times." Xhan let a small laugh escape before clearing his throat, trying to ignore the man who called him the Boatswain. "First off, do you have long nine cannons or maybe carronades? Maybe just a few of one, a lot of the other? I think long nines sounds a bit more appealing.

"Now, I believe that to load the standard muzzle-loading cannon, you need to swab the inside with a Sponge, keep the next batch of powder from igniting. Usually your primer will have about a pound of powder, I think. Stick a wad in after the powder, use the rammer, or box, or whatever you wanna' call it, to drive it home. Uh, let's see, you put the ammo in, another wad, and then fire. Let the Breech rope stop the cannon from bashing you in the face. Question, do you use gunlocks on your cannons, or do you have to go old school with the linstocks? Nevermind, I'll find out." Xhan rested one elbow against the railing to make himself a little more comfortable.

"I know when the cannon is at 45 degrees, you get the greatest range, and always to take into account the rocking of the ship when aiming, wind if it's bad that day, I suppose. As to the time limit, if we practice the procedure, 'cept for firing of course, and we're used to it, we should be able to fire two or three shots every five minutes, so really at the most only about four cannonballs for every several minutes will need to transported, though a few more would be preffered.

"Of course, cannonballs aren't the only thing to fire. I'd hope that you had some chain shot, bar shot, expanding bar shot, some langrange, and my favorite, double shot." Xhan smiled to himself. I love me. Me is awesome. He raised an eyebrow at the captain, silently challenging her for another question. Pfft, of course I know cannons. They're loud, aren't they? So that makes them annoying. Hehehe.

"You know, Skipper, I'd be more than happy to be the Boatswain. Yup, just let me play with the things that go 'Boom.' Again, I say, I will swab the deck so many times it will look like it's made of marble!... You know, I thought for sure you'd include sifting the powder on that quiz." He flashed an admittedly cocky smile, but he really couldn't help himself. And before you know it, I'm beloved by everyone. Haha! Yeah, take that, Grandma! And you said I could never do anything good for people! Hah!... Wait, I'm a pirate... Crap.
 
Ming glances back down to the Guppy from her post, a little impressed that he knew that much already. Shaking her head, she motions to the deck "Get to work then. She likes to be cleaned now and then so she doesn't start to itch. If the good ship doesn't feel good, we all pay for it. So make the floors shine as you claimed you could."

She chuckled under the breath, locking eyes with Greed as he continues his lesson in pirate tactics. Lowering her head a bit, she looks to the horizon and keeps an eye on the ocean line ahead. Beyond these waters laid the aim to their adventure, the prize they are racing for against 'Father's Pride'. These landlubbers didn't know what they were after quite yet, but they will learn once the curse leeched onto them. It was only a matter of time before they become complete members on the ghost ship, the only question remain is if they will accept the price for the ship's 'gift'. She drops her voice to a whisper, glancing to two of her pokemon sitting near her

"Budi, Sedna...we'll have to see what comes when the ship accepts her new children. Until then, Budi, go talk to Halan and see if he senses anything over the horizon...have to keep these pups alive until then."

------------------

"Hm...that all you have. Well, we'll be working on this in time so we can improve on all this. Its good that some of you have weapons, that knife not a bad choice when you are in close with the enemy. Just a quick flick and you can bury that between their ribs. A hammer works too for close combat, but with the size i think you may have...actually. One moment"

Greed walks off from the group, swinging himself behind the door leading to the belowdecks. Descending through the levels, he stops before a door locked with a heavy chain and bolt lock. Placing his hand on the chain, he brushes his finger tips over the lock and mutter into the dark. "Now now, darling. You know I'm not going to steal anything."

With a sharp sound of chain curling away from the door, Greed places the lock aside and pushes the door open. With a grin, he enter the room and start to shift through the weapons held behind these doors, locked away to extinguished any thoughts of mutiny from crew members alike. Leaning down, he lifts a land handled battle hammer and tests the strength and condition of it. "Not bad...thank you for taking good care of these, my friend"

Leaving the room, he lifts the lock and tosses it to the air and steps back at the chains launch out from the shadows to capture the lock. Locking the door behind him, he makes his way back to the upperdeck and walks over to the Carpenter and holds out the battle hammer before him.

"Think you can handle something like this?"
 
Fritz, arms folded behind his back, watched the new crew curiously, his Galvantula watching just as intently, each blue eye shining. He waited for his older crewmates to finish their talking, before reaching into his pocket, and withdrawing a number of smallish round objects - colourful orbs the size of golf balls and outfitted with brass and steel, some with symbols carved in them and some not. He offered one to the nearest crewmember - Xhan.

"Some of you may have seen zhese newer Pokeballs, und some not. Zhey ah more high-tech zhan zhe average you would make or buy from your small-town ballmakers. You each get one just in case."

He patted the spot where his Galvantula's ball sat, in his breast pocket.

"Now zhen...I vill be giving you all checkups very soon! Isn't zhat exciting?" He said, waving his cane a bit.
 
"Not really. No, I'm not particularly excited about that." Xhan said, taking the Pokeball. "What's so special about them?" He asked, stuffing it in his pocket and dunking the mop in the water. He began mopping the deck obediantly when a thought crossed his mind. Did the captain say the boat gets itchy? Is she really thinking it's... Alive? I know it's a ghost ship, but... Really? If it's alive, scrubbing until it looked like marble would be like me scratching my arm until it was raw. Huh. Guess I'll have to find the happy medium. He nervously glanced up at the sails, wondering if the boat really could be alive, in which case, he was doomed for kicking at it. "... I'm sorry, boat." He whispered very quietly.
 
"Think you can handle something like this?" he said, War Hammer outstretched. Shane's jaw dropped. He took it carefully, and the first thing he noted was it's weight. He was no stranger to anything heavy, but this was a little more than he was used to. It would still do well enough, of course. He gave it a proper inspection. Rather then the small Smith's Hammer, this one was designed for war. It's handle was metalic and strong, and it had to be, for at it's end was the huge double-sided head. It bore rather striking resemblance to an anvil, and despite it's smaller size, had a good share of the weight. He gripped it tightly, checked it's balance, which he found to be very favorable, and swung at an imaginary foe. It's jaw cracked at his mighty blade, and fell, doomed to die a slow death. Shane smiled. All his life he'd been fixing things with hammers. This one was meant purely for destruction. He tossed it in the air, caught it in one hand, muscles tensing from the strain.

"It's...amazing, thank you. This will do quite well. Can I....keep it for now?".

He swung through the air again, crushing another imaginary enemy's defense and shattering their ribs. The power he felt when wielding this thing...The sheer sense of damage he felt he could inflict. Few would survive this, and those that did would likely not soon forget it. His thoughts were interrupted by the personification of strange, as he called ""Now zhen...I vill be giving you all checkups very soon! Isn't zhat exciting?" and waved his cane around. Shane frowned. "Checkups? Are you the ship's doctor?". Shane didn't exactly have fond memories of doctors. You put you life in someone else's hands, they're bound to throw it away. But then again, those were his father's words. Maybe he'd best start forging his own.
 
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Nathaniel gives a yelp as the hammer swung a little too close for comfort, stepping away in a hurry.

"Hey! Can you watch where you're swinging that thing?" he asks, pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger. "You could put a hole in the ship if you're not careful."

And besides, you're making me nervous. He didn't actually say that part, merely thinking it.

He frowned at the mention of check-ups - this new, strange man unnerved him - but figured it was probably for the best. An idea occurred to him at around that moment.

"Hey, uh, what are we meant to be doing right now?"
 
"Good question. Right now you'll be placed in your quarters and place your gear away. After that, we'll be slowly working you into the pirate lifestyle until...well, you'll see what happens once it all comes down. Now...follow me and I'll show you to your quarters."

Greed then glances over to Xhan, raising his voice so the young man could hear him. "Oi. Come with me and I'll show you where you sleep."

-----------------

Ming chuckles as she watches the man with the Hammer swinging it about, almost clubbing one of the others in his excitement. Shaking her head as she heard Greed's call to the crew, she focuses on the sea ahead of them and watches for the signs of life beyond. Glancing up, she notes Budi fluttering back from the Crow's nest and perching on her head, crawling down until resting on her shoulder. With his head turned toward her ear, she smiles as she listen to the bug's voice.

"Aye...so the sea is clear of threat. That is good. So we should make way to the next por- Eh" she is cut short when Sedna pulled on her shirt, shaking her head before motioning to the new crew. With a slight frown, she nods, knowing what she was getting at.

"Aye...can't make the jump until the ship accepts them...I just hope we don't run into the new navy fleet...though it may keep Fritz busy if we have a new prisoner"
 
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