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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 4899376" data-attributes="member: 2205">She ran towards them desperate, but not stupid.  She was cautiously optimistic about the chances of being saved.  She was dressed in leathers, wrapped in a bedroll, and holding a piece of canvas over her head.  She gets up turned on seeing the ship land, and ran over to a pile of things set up against a small incline of stone. She sat on top of a small chest, with her back to the rock, and waited there for any people that might come up to her. The rodentish shifter was the first a-peak, hopping over the side of the airship and moving around the newcomer, sniffing curiously at her as he picked through the remains of the dead. "I'm afraid I've already done that." Nix said to the man sorting through the crew that lay about. "I've already stowed the things I really want, so you all can have the rest, " She held up a large and lumpy sack and then placed it on a pile of what seem to be weapons and other things. Lash suddenly bellows from on deck. "Leng take me, is that you, Nix? ""Who wants to know?" Lash grinned, and said, "Don't you play coy with me, you scallywag. What happened? Did you steal the captain and stuff him in you bag? Or was it the sails? I'm starting to wonder if we barely avoided crashing here, or if you just pulled off one of your heists!"But then his eyes narrowed a bit and he asked, "How did you managed to find yourself here, lass. Coincidences this close to the Mist worry me."Lash raised his voice again to carry over the ship, "Keep a close watch, all. No telling what's lurking below that Mistline, and two juicy airships landing here is bound to attract some attention. With our luck, at least.""You know each other?" Scritch asked cautiously as he settled on his haunches by the hobgoblin. He laughed softly, his Fu Manchu moustache quivering over his lips. The Demon-Rat would love this one! "What happened to air-ship?" As the crew disembarked to scavenge from the wreckage, he rose to his feet and waves the rest of the group over to them. Nix stood up and shook the water off herself. "What didn't happen to it?" She let out an exasperated sigh. "A run of bad luck, that I know. Why we really crashed, I can't say, since I was asleep at the time." The shifter bobbed his head up and down sadly. "Bad things happen whenever friends sleep. Ricardo, he always cries when sleeping, like something is hitting him with big wooden sticks." Lash paused, and looks around. Then, in a low, menacing voice he growled, "Where is Ricardo?" Below decks, Ricardo has escorted Francesca to her cabin.  "I should really go see what's going on up top. Those friends of mine, they're probably-- Uh. Oh. Oh, dear. Okay, go ahead." Lash is so going to kill me for this. Shautha jumped lightly (for a half-orc barbarian girl) off the ship and strode confidently over to the edge of the Mist, standing with her back to it, as if daring it to get her. "How did you say your ship crashed?" she asked the stranger suspiciously.On hearing more of Lash's conversation, though, she relaxed marginally. "You know her? Strange. And, as you say, coincidences near to the Mistline are probably not coincidences." Belowdecks: "Look, you really shouldn't be undress-- No, they look fine, it's just your sister-- I don't like to compare, honestly. Maybe you should do those buttons back up now." Lash was getting more and more frantic.  "No, really. Where. Is. Ricardo?!"Scritch perched atop some rubble and looked back meaningfully towards their ship to answer Lash's question. "I haven't seen him. I'll go back and get him." Shautha jumped slightly less dextrously back onto the airship and pounded down the stairs to the bunks. "RICARDO!" Vuukran absentmindedly picked at one of the large fangs protruding from his lower jaw as he appraised the situation. "This the strangest ship I've ever been on, and that's saying a lot. A woman appeared out of nowhere for Ricardo, and now one has done the same for Lash. What manner of sorcery is this?" Shautha tossed a wink back at Vuukran as she went by. "I'm still available for you." "The gods pity fools and small children. The rest of us, they torture for eternity." Scritch continued to scan the Mist-shrouded peak, all too aware of the dangers that could emerge at any moment. While the crew scavenged what repairs they could from the ship, Scritch reached within his vest and retrieved a small leather pouch. He whistled for a moment to catch Vuukran's attention, then tossed it to him.  The pouch contained 80 gold pieces. Vuukran rifled through the pouch, assessing its contents, then cocked his head and arched an eyebrow at the shifter. "What the Dog* is this for?"Is he trying to buy the half-orcess off of me? I don't own he- wait... is this the fee for bedding her? By Dog, that's expensive! "From Kirov. Equal share for equal danger, with one-tenth kept back for the Demon-Rat." He rustles around inside his vest before producing a similar pouch and tossing it to Lash.Lash buried his face in his hand for a moment, a la Picard.  Taking a deep breath and dropping his hand, he shook his head as if to clear it, and made a visible effort to pull himself upright.  "Right, done is done. Might well as try to change the wind. I'll deal with Ricardo and our stowaway later. For now, we need to concentrate on repairs. Vuukran, would you assist me in picking through yonder ship for the things we need? Another set of eyes and a strong back will make things go faster. The rest of you mind what I said about keeping a sharp eye. We are not safe here."Vuukran vaulted over the edge of the ship with careless ease and trotted over to Lash. "Sure thing, not-Captain! Oh, and pleased to meet you, Lash's woman." He bowed with too much of a flourish before Nix, then lifted his eyepatch to give her an overly exaggerated conspiratorial wink."If it's pairs of eyes you want, it's too bad we're not in Mnar. Did I ever tell you about the time I was negotiating a peace treaty with an island full of aranea? They've got four pairs of eyes each! Anyway, so there I was, all alone, thre rest of the expedition lost to disease, starvation or worse, surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of pairs of eyes as I addressed their Queen..." The shifter hopped down as several of the crew begin digging in the wreckage he was perched atop. He prowled around the mountain peak for a few minutes, silently gauging the Mists as Vuukran prattled on about his fantastical adventures, before skittering up atop a small rock outcropping and pulling out his bow. The ratling settled in on himself, bow out and ready for trouble. Inside the ship, Shautha started banging on closed doors. "RICARDO!"Entangled with one woman and hearing the approach of another is a situation Ricardo knew how to handle. That husky voice called out from the bunks above, and down in the cargo hold, in Francesca's little boudoir, he leapt into action."My dear, it would go poorly for us both if we were discovered. Perhaps we can continue this enchanting conversation some other time..."Francesca's charms seem to have discombobulated him more than he thought, for he was unable to resist a last lingering caress before slipping under the curtain and sprinting for the bow companionway, wincing as he knocked over a stack of lace, hoping to avoid the other woman he could hear above.  He failed."Oh! Hey, there you are. It's... Shautha, isn't it?"  It's dark down here but she's certainly well-built. Hm, possibilities.  Ricardo pitched his voice quiet and assured, giving his best "suddenly I'm engrossed in you, baby" impression.**She waggled her eyebrows at the man. "Yes, it is. But for now we're both needed topside." She pointed vaguely in the direction of the peak. "Yes, of course."Ricardo straightened his cuffs and offered the Shautha a quick bow, then dashed up to the deck.  "Lash, what seems to be the trouble, my old friend? What a ruckus you're causing." Shautha peeked curiously down the hallway before shrugging and following Ricardo topside. Lash glared at Ricardo from the midst of the other ship's wreckage and called back, "You missed a lace on your breeches, my dear Ricardo. And I'd appreciate it if you could keep a watchful eye out for danger where I can keep an eye on you," Lash finished in a mutter. Lash actually had no idea if Ricardo really did miss a lace or not, but he'd been around the block a few times with Ricky, and he was confident he was right.Ricardo scarcely heard Lash. There was a gorgeous human woman standing on the rocky peak. A wet gorgeous human woman.  "Oh, my dear, has no one seen to your needs?"  He immediately crossed to the dark-skinned girl and offered her his hankerchief."At least dry yourself. Perhaps I could accompany you aboar-- well, actually, I do need to be out here. You see how my friends rely on me. I am Ricardo Murciélago, adventurer and trusted partner of the di Vicenta family from Razina. And may I say how pleased I am to be able to assist such a lady as yourself."He bowed gracefully and kissed the girl's hand. Shautha rolled her eyes and then jumped off the ship to help the others search the wreckage. "Anything in particular we should be saving? I know nothing about airships." Finding the material Lash and Gustav needed to make the repairs was not difficult, but it would take them a couple of hours. Only Lash and Gustav knew what they were looking for; the rest of them could only offer strong backs to carry material onboard.  Francesca came out on deck after having spent a little bit of time in the tiny ship's galley while everyone was working. It turned out she was quite talented in the galley, and she had turned the rather unpalatable rations into something that everyone quite liked. She had also apparently dropped the snotty spoiled brat routine and the would-be underage vamp routine for now, and was quite charming, although she avoided looking at or talking to Ricardo as much as possible. When she did catch his eye, she inadvertently drops[ed her eyes to her breasts and frowned.Her monkey was in a fine mood, too. He saluted Vuukran again, then paced back and forth on the table with his hands behind his back, babbling at high speed, occasionally stopping to jab his finger at charts or diagrams that he makes with a pencil (the diagrams don't make any sense to anyone else) or gesticulated wildly. No one had any idea what he was saying (except maybe Vuukran), but apparently he considered himself quite an authority on whatever it is he was talking about.When lunch was done and the repair work was about halfway done, the weather changed. The wind slowed and the rain stopped, and even the sounds of Lash and Gustav working, or the rest of the crew moving and talking seemed muffled and quiet, as if covered in a thick blanket.To the right, a <a href="http://www.circvsmaximvs.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28747&d=1225210641" target="_blank">low organic clicking sound</a> suddenly cane out of the Mist. Every other sound stopped. Then they heard it again to the left. And behind.* Dog is one of the beings worshipped in the area.  He's a gigantic Dog... apparently immortal... who lives on one of the little plateaus near Mnar's southern edge.  He's a relatively benevolent little godling; as long as he gets a sacrificial virgin to eat two or three times a year, he leaves everyone pretty much alone.  Over time, pretty much all the characters starting swearing by Dog and taking his canine name in vain, which I thought was kinda amusing.** It was a running joke for quite some time that Ricardo hadn't actually had a good look at Shautha and was laboring under the delusion that she just might be attractive.</blockquote>

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