Noelle gave the two khajits a passing glance. It wasn't her business who Sharee recruits. She followed the captain and just about everyone else out of the tavern, and told her crew to do some errands. Mostly picking up new reagents and ingredients for the Infirmary as well as for her own projects. In the mean time Noelle quietly told Sharee what she figured out. "The ship I've scouted is called the Miriam. It's a merchant vessel that smuggles it's skooma through cheese and fish barrels. The ship itself is built for speed and hardy weather, but not for combat. However it is one of the more well recognized ships that operates to and from Khenarthi's Roost, so if it does get into trouble... Well, it's going to get help. Not only that but it's crew are seasoned pirates themselves, so they'll be familiar with their tactics not to mention capable of putting up a decent fight. Looking into their docking logs, they arrived not too long before us and it seems like the Captain left the ship for a meeting. I don't know for what or for how long, but I'm going to take a guess that it has something to do with their contraband."

The group went into the docks where Sharee scouted the piers for the ship. Noelle spotted the Miriam not too far away and thought that it was where Sharee wanted to take a closer look at, but instead she pointed out to another ship that Noelle hasn't really taken the time to notice. It certainly looked like a merchant vessel, but it wasn't the Miriam. "That's not the Miriam, captain. Another ship that interests you?" Noelle hadn't really taken this into consideration. Noelle had hoped that she was the first to have found the skooma smugglers. Or maybe there was more than just one ship. Was the whole dock in on this? "I don't know what ship that is. The Miriam is just a bit away however. I haven't gotten a chance to get a closer look, but I'm guessing that as a merchant vessel, weapons aren't the biggest priority for them." Getting closer to the captain, Noelle spoke softly so that no one could eavesdrop on them. "Taking the Miriam at sea would be the best idea, but it will be following the safest route, no doubt like other ships. What I fear the most is that the Miriam will not be sailing alone, so if we do try to engage it, we will be out numbered. I have... An idea, perhaps, though I will need your advice to make it work."

Sharee leaned up against the wall of one of the nearby warehouses and crossed her arms in silence, thinking about all the options on the table. Nothing sounded easy, but then again, she didn't expect it to be. "What it sounds like to me is that we have choices, multiple paths to take.The ship you describe sounds tough, a hard target that has probably been doing this for a while. Now, if that is true, then there are also some other things I can reasonably assume about them. Skooma smuggling is a lucrative business, and experienced smugglers know how to maximize their profits. You might think that selling in Elsweyr would be the most profitable venture, but that isn't actually the case. You see, while demand is higher in Elsweyr, so is supply. Even if it is illegal, realistically, no one gets arrested for the skooma trade in Elsweyr. It's a safe stop for novice smugglers. The real gold is made elsewhere, and that means having to deal with authorities. Normally, trading vessels in the Dominion have the option of getting escorts for their ships, but that requires having your cargo searched. If you're carrying illicit goods, you're going to pass on that escort. This ship, the Miriam, is probably heading for somewhere like Valenwood or Alinor. If they're really ambitious, they might even sell it somewhere in the Empire, since the price is higher there. It probably will not have an escort, but as you said, it is going to be prepared for attacks. It will still be a tough target to hit."

Turning her attention to the Khajiit, Sharee moved on to her next idea. "Our other option is taking on his old master's vessel. Just by looking at it, I can tell it isn't as tough. Not as much armor, not as many ballistae. It probably won't be as lucrative, but it could potentially be easier. What's your name, Kahl, right? Where is your old captain planning on selling his goods once he leaves the island?"

The laughter went on for a little bit, whether the Dunmer girl laughed, or not, seemed not to matter. The joke had become real among the friends, and Serge had retrieved his flask from inside his coat pocket. He took a break to drink while Sarel went into a cackling fit. Serge retreated from the flask, having taken a healthy drink, and began laughing again, as if he’d never stopped. He threw the flask to Sarel, who caught it as if he hadn’t been smoking and drinking all day. And he drank. The eldest Dunmer put the flask around his belt as he and Serge’s laughter began to subside. He emptied his pipe, retrieved the grinding case, and saw that there was no more Balmora left, none at all. He sighed, put the case and pipe away in the pocket in his boot, and retrieved the flask from his red sash belt. He drank and spun in place and turned toward the harbor. He finished his gulp, closed it, and tossed it over his shoulder. Serge caught it, dropped to his bum on the grass, and laid beside the Dunmer girl. He realized that she hadn’t said anything at all, she hadn’t done anything at all. He drank from the flask, his vision turning toward the darkening space above, Secundas and Masser had their outlines pressed against the canvas of the sky. Then he looked at his finger, the gold ring on the finger. When he was done with the gulp he closed the flask and smiled at the ring.

“You know, Sarel, you are a man—sorry—an elf of great class dignity and grace.”

Sarel had noticed Sharee walking along the harbor, she seemed to be on the prowl. She was accompanied by two Khajiits, likely as guides, along with Noelle and Kayal. She was well defended, which pleased the Dunmer swordsman greatly, he wished no harm upon her, not yet at least. She was staking out one ship, he could tell by the directions she walked in, where she glanced most often, and the fact that the ship she converged on was a shipping vessel, perfect for moving product. There was a lot of it, and, if every container had skooma in it, they would have quite the haul on their hands, as well as a bit of a inventory problem. Where in Oblivion would they keep all of this? Serge began speaking about Sarel’s class, and grace. Sarel lifted his hand to his brow, set his fingers along the ridged bridge of his nose, and cast his sobering spell. He was brought back down faster than jetty in a sea fight. He shook his head as he shook off the nausea.

“Not to mention your wisdom and generosity,” Serge began again as he sat up. “I can’t belive, by the divine, you found my sigil ring! I owe you my life!” He was getting belligerent, but loving nonetheless. He crossed the space between them like a babe to its mother. Sarel set his fingers quickly on Serge’s brow, and cast his spell. Serge immediately began vomiting. It was… ridiculous. Thankfully, Sarel was out of the way, so it only went to the grass and down the hill. Once he was done he wiped his mouth. He looked fine afterwards, actually, Sarel noticed. “That was something altogether impressive, I certainly must admit. That was like insanity. Where’d you learn a trick like that?”

“My master. I was a rowdy teen.” Sarel said without any humor. The spell always did that, left him a little unamused. He cast the inventory spell and pulled out a telescope. He extended it and focused it. He handed it to Serge, pointed their Argonian leader out. “Look, it’s Sharee. She’s looking at that ship.”

“Which?” Serge asked, stepping up to the edge with Sarel. The two had left the Dunmer girl behind, God’s knew if she was still there.

“That one right there, with the red moon flag.” Sarel responded impatiently.

“Ah, how do you know that? Eh, look, it’s that girl, Noelle.” Serge made humping motions like a sex crazed teenager.

“Stop that, you’re going to draw attention. Listen, they’re already packing up it’s catalog. They’ll be out on the water by the crack of dawn, if they can rouse their damn crew from their whore’s beds.” The elf suddenly felt a little breathless. He continued, “We’re going to need to find out their route, armor out ship, immediately, and head out before them. It’s the only way this would work. Unless Sharee has something up her sleave.”

Serge stared at Sarel for a long time, a little bewildered. “You talk a great deal when you’re not high.”

“I’m focused, let’s go.” Sarel set off down the bluff to the dirt road again, Serge in tow.

---

Sarel lead the duo through a side road, then to another major avenue. The familiar red brick led them to a Thalmor embassy, where the documents concerning that vessel would be kept. They might not contain any information about their route, but it might give them leads.

As the two walked back to the harbor, at a quickening pace, Sarel thought about what else they might do to learn the route, along with when the crew would leave, since there was no way in absolutely proving anything Sarel said earlier, it was mostly a hunch. Perhaps they could infiltrate the ship. They’d need invisibility potions, which Sharee could provide instantly, he figured. That was very risky however. They could interrogate a crew member, perhaps the boatswain, stick a dagger to his gut in an alleyway. Serge could do that easily, perhaps with Kayal. In no time they were well behind Sharee and the group, leaning against a stable where a camel was hitched. Sharee was delivering a message to the rest of the group, everyone listened intently. She was interested in another ship, one at the other end of the harbor. Sarel’s sublime eyesight was responsible for his ability to gain all of this information. Sarel wanted to get to work, he looked over to their ship. There were boxes of materials left on the dock near the ship, a few crew members watched over it. There was still a surprising amount of activity on the boat. Lanterns had been lit, and there was at least one card game going on. Sarel looked over to his friend. “Go talk to Sharee, she might need you. I’m going to go back to the ship to get it outfitted.”

“Sound’s fine. Are you drinking tonight?” Serge asked suddenly.

“No, I think not.” Sarel responded. He pointed at the other ship Sharee was interested in. “See that ship? I want you to tail one of their crew members, find who the boatswain is. We need access to their maps and records somehow.” Sarel stroked his beard, “Don’t be seen, don’t draw attention.” And Sarel lifted himself from the stable and walked across the harbor. He made sure to attract Sharee’s attention, he wanted her to know that he was going to be indisposed.

Serge crossed the expanse, pass the closing market stands, he smiled at his boss and crew. “What a beautiful crew we have here.” Serge said as he approached, not drawing too much attention. He stood nearest Kayal, wherever he stood, and leaned on him. “Sarel says you’ve found ships, that true?”

Malakaus and his Typhoon Warriors were ready to go through with their end of the plan. They just needed to wait and see what Noelle did. What Malakaus saw did not please him. Which is to say, she never showed up. He was patient at first, figuring that she was just taking her time to get those Thalmor Robes. But than, after waiting an unknown amount of time, Malakaus spotted her and the captain walking down the docks. He would have cursed out loud if he wasn't underwater, so he had him and his warriors move out from underneath the Miriam and back onto dry land. Soaking wet and very angry Malakaus looked towards the group. He was going to go over to give Noelle a piece of his mind had his Typhoon Warriors managed to hold him back. Good think too, as it allowed him a chance to think clearly. Or at least go somewhere to think clearly. "Return to the ship! I need some time to think."

Before long Malakaus and his crew returned to their vessel. Some of the materials have been delivered and need either Sarel or Malakaus to oversee the construction. Seeing what was available to him, Malakaus took it upon himself to design the ship. They didn't have enough materials to really give it any creative flair, but he at least made sure everyone didn't waste wood or metal bindings as they brought the ship up to the Imperial Standard. All they lacked now was heavier armor plating (Which they took down because they had the Imperial Emblems) and more weapons. However, speed was another concern of his; the current mast would carry them perhaps a big faster than most Imperial Warships since they've lighten up on their armor, so adding more would only slow them down. Good if they're going to duke it out with other warships, but for pirates they need to be able to hit hard and hit fast; right now they lacked the numbers to defeat ships and their escorts, nor would any armor Malakaus puts on it now would be good enough to actually stand toe-to-toe with a properly made warship. And that didn't even include just how he was going get his hands on any of the required materials; he nearly spent all the gold in his pockets to purchase what they had now. "Sharee better know what she's doing with that skooma. Barely got enough for the ship."

Trying not to get too worked up over recent events, Malakaus began to help the crew repair the ship. They won't finish today and they don't even have all the materials, but hopefully they'd be ready to set sail again before too long. He wants to go back and start killing things again.

"They're gone... thank goodness." Sabuit raised her head from her reading and watched as the two figures who had been rather... distracting to her enjoyment of the book disappeared from down the hill. She had paid no attention to them in the hope that they would grow bored and leave her be - a tactic that had apparently worked as well as Sabuit had hoped, for the Dunmer and the Breton had evidently grown bored of bothering her (whilst she was reading too, how uncouth and uncultured of them) and sauntered off in search, perhaps of some other people to pester. Sabuit smiled, almost in victory, as the two figures disappeared from sight and returned to her reading. However, there were many matters still troubling her. For one, there was still that damnable Khajiit. Then, there was what her sister Aurelia would call a 'what on earth am I doing crisis' - she had been on the road for some 2 years, give or take a few days, and she had neither seen nor heard from her family in Blacklight, but she had also no stable future for herself, particularly employment-wise. In the past, Sabi had been able to scrape together a few septims here and there, more than enough to get by day to day, but life on the move was tough, and Sabuit was feeling the effects of it - she had fallen ill a few weeks before with a mysterious cough that was difficult to shake off - what it was she didn't know - and her fragile health was beginning to suffer in general. She was more susceptible to colds and other minor illnesses than usual, she was growing tired more frequently and with greater rapidity. It was as if her body was protesting vehemently against her constant travelling, and Sabuit could hardly blame it - the thrill of the travel had worn off long ago, and Sabuit was now just drifting aimlessly by life. Maybe it would have been in her interests to go home after all. She had considered it after a particularly difficult experience in Cyrodiil but she had decided against it; after all, why turn back now, when the world had so much more to offer, she thought at the time. Now, though, in a pirate town in Elsweyr, she bitterly regretted not taking such a course of action. It was the sensible thing to do at the time.

She sighed heavily and closed the book up, replacing the bookmark with the usual care as she did so. That really was the question on her mind. What was she going to do? What could she do? Who would want to employ some Dark Elf with some skill with a bow, when they could employ a Bosmer for the same role? There was nothing that she could do that no-one else couldn't do, after all. She watched the harbour with some interest - in the far distance, she saw a ship that was under... maintenance or refitting, she couldn't tell which at this distance. However, she could tell that the ship was undergoing some heavy work, which more leaned towards the latter than the former. Sabi had seen shipyards at work before on her travels, constructing boats and ships of all shapes and sizes, but she had little knowledge of actual ship construction. Not that it mattered, anyway, she wasn't all that interested in shipbuilding, although life at sea, from the stories of her brother-in-law Haldor, was both exhilarating and yet mind-numbingly dull at the same time, as well as full of hard work. Sabi was used to a hard grind, but perhaps not to the extent of a ship's crewman, she thought to herself... It still left the question of what the hell to do.

There was one thing that was on her mind right now. For the first time in her life, Sabuit wanted to drink her sorrows away.

"Yes Kahl is my name...I'm am unsure of the next location...I'm never told these things." He sighed. Maybe his revenge wasn't gonna happen. He began to rub his hands together.

"Maybe if we follow him? Wouldn't be hard. Ambush him."

Kahl paced back and forth. Not sure of what to do. He thought the Argonian would have it all planned out. He toyed the with the knives on his arms.

"Maybe if we sneak on board? In crates?"

Kahl wasn't sure if that would work. Maybe it would be best go after another ship. He kicked a rock as he walked by it, it sailed into the air and bounced as it hit the ground. He was quit anxious to kill his former captian. But he knew it wasn't going to easy and her word was final. The argonian did not seem like someone he wanted to argue with. He sighed.

"I'm not sure what we should do."

Sharee shouldn't have expected Kahl to have any real useful information, being that he was a slave. Still, it didn't hurt to ask. They at least had a few options and a reasonable amount of information. When Serge showed up, she noticed their group was growing a bit large to be inconspicuous, so she decided it would be best to continue this conversation somewhere less public.

"Yes, we have." Sharee answered to Serge. "Come on, let's get back to the ship to discuss this further." She ordered, motioning the others to follow her. It was getting late, so it would be time to retire for the night soon enough...after carrying out Noelle's punishment, of course. She was going to make sure the entire crew was there to observe that. It would serve as a good warning to those who were thinking about crossing her, which was really the biggest reason she wanted to do it in the first place. Sharee didn't actually care that much about what Noelle did. If anything, her actions had motivated her to research countermeasures to mental manipulation.

As they walked, Sharee ruminated about the options they had. By Noelle's report, the Miriam had quite a lot of skooma and would be a profitable target, albeit a dangerous one. She knew well the state of her ship and how few resources they had for proper armor and weapons. Malakaus and Sarel would do whatever they could for the vessel, but they only had so many resources to work with. Sharee was definitely overconfident in her abilities, but she wasn't stupid, and more importantly, she trusted no one. In her eyes, her crew could easily fail her, so she wanted to play it safe for now. The other vessel, the one owned by Kahl's old master, might not contain as much skooma, but they stood a better chance of taking it. Plus, the boy was enthusiastic about taking on his master. She doubted he could be of much help in a fight, but in her mind, she had a few ideas of how he might be useful. By the time they made it back on the deck of their ship, she had a rough idea in mind of something they could do, something that would involve both the Miriam, and the other ship.

Walking across the deck with the others behind her, she approached the railing and leaned onto it, looking out over the harbor. "So, we have two ships we know of that have skooma, the Miriam, and the one owned by Kahl's old master. The way I see it, the Miriam is too hard of a target to hit just yet, but that doesn't mean we can't use it. I have an idea, an opportunity we can exploit. I just have two questions. One, Noelle, do you know if the Miriam has already loaded all of its skooma, or do you think they are going to get any more? Two, what do you think would happen if you went back to your master, Kahl?"

Malakaus was ordering his crew around the ship, his focus at the time being the creation of additional balista bolts, as well as a few harpoons. They were no whaling ship, but in the event that something like a dragon showed up, it would be well worth scavenging it's skeleton. If it doesn't destroy the ship and the crew first. However, he began to notice a sudden shift in workers; he had less. Wondering what was going on he went topside to see that Sarel had returned and was working on the ship now. Malakaus looked over what supplies were brought and guessed that they still had some things missing, though Malakaus got most of what he wanted done. Their armory was well stocked with harpoons and balista bolts, and while the ship needed repairs, he did what he could to keep it armored and mobile. Now all that was needed done was the full reconstruction, which he'll let Sarel handle now that he's here. He also noticed the captain returning to the ship with most everyone else in tow, including two new khajit faces. "Captain hire hew hands?" Malakaus asked mostly himself.

He walked over to the captain to see if she needed anything. That's when he heard her ask Noelle about the situation with the Miriam. Malakaus shot a nasty glare at the breton woman. "So that's her game. Use me to get on the captain's good side huh? Make herself look like she's done some work by taking mines..." Malakaus didn't say anything about it. He walked past the captain, catching her attention for a brief moment. "Captain, I'm heading back to the town to pick up more materials. I finished most of my repairs, but I think we're waiting on more supplies now. I shouldn't take too long." That was partly a lie; he was just going to go find some more of the crew and have them hurry up. He himself decided that now he wanted to look around the city some more.

Getting onto dry land the first thing Malakaus thought to do was hit up another skooma den. But when he reached for his coin purse, he discovered the horrible truth; he was broke. Most of his money was spent on getting the materials for the ship, though it didn't help that he also spent some coin on over-priced skooma in that high elf district. Didn't even get to enjoy the full high before Noelle drugged him. The orc sighed. "Maybe I can get myself into a brawl, earn a couple of coins betting in a fight... But I need coins for that. Coins I don't have. Damn. I think I might have something I could pawn- Whoa!" As Malakaus was grumbling to himself, he nearly ran into a woman in the street. He had been so distracted by his own thoughts and new ways to make some quick coin that he didn't notice her. He did, however, notice something that caught his eyes. First, the woman was a dunmer. He didn't expect to see many of them out here, but maybe she was a traveler. Second was her book. "Huh. A book. Mind if I ask what it's about?"

"No, the Miriam only arrived shortly before us. The captain and most of his crew left shortly after, likely to obtain their goods. They use a new ship to smuggling their skooma out for each trip, so I would think they haven't begun to load their cargo yet. Do you...?" Noelle didn't finish her sentence but she wanted to ask Sharee if she was going to have them try to intercept the cargo before it got to sea. The only benefit Noelle could see form that is that they would not have to pit their ship against the Miriam. And that's about it; they'd still need to find a way to subtly steal that skooma if they simply weren't going to kill the crew and take it from themselves. But that was a lot of bodies to hide. And if there was any survivors, some is going to want to know what happened to the crew of the Miriam. No, Noelle wasn't going to make any assumptions. Instead she tried to think of something else that Sharee may want to know about the ship. Than a thought occurred to her. "Captain, perhaps instead of trying to take the skooma from the Miriam, we find where they obtain their skooma? I don't mean simply a den either; someone has to be refining and producing skooma here in Khenarthi's Roost for the smugglers to take. What if... What if you and I go and convince the producer into letting us in on their business?"

Sarel walked up the ship, eyeing the crates and barrels and planks of wood lined along the dock. He stroked his beard gently, his eyes were a bit glassy, slightly watered. This was a sideffect of the herba. But his mind was clear, his spell had worked nicely. Though, he always felt a bit dull when sober, he saw it’s usefulness. A crewmember came ashore and walked up to Sarel, he was an Imperial, tough-looking, but Boethiah knew if he was any good with the short mace he carried.

“Sarel, sir. We’re waiting on your word. The scaffold has been brought back up, I thought you might want it.” He held his hands behind his back, like a true sailor, perhaps he was a former seaman. Sarel smiled at him.

“Yes, well done. I needed to attend to some personal business. I’m going on board to deliver some messages and to drop off my belongings. Go get 5 men and bring these planks onboard to be sanded and cut. Split them, reinforce them with the pine we have, I should be by to give you further instructions by then.” Just as Sarel finished speaking Malakaus came from the harbor, rather wet, and preceded onto the boat. He must have been high because he didn’t notice Sarel at all. Never mind, Sarel thought. “Dismissed.”

The sailor gave a faux salute and jogged off. Sarel followed behind at a brisk pace, going aboard to tell two other men to unbox and reset the castings two others were set to fix any damage on the railings. Briefly, Sarel made his way below deck, replaced his current armor with the new set that he purchased ashore, placed all of his valuables in the chest he and Serge shared, Sarel had taken pains the night before to enchant it heavily. Then he headed upstairs again, stopping for a moment to pick up the Khajiit and Redguard members of his team. They came above deck to see Sharee coming aboard. Sarel sent his crew to go watch the Miriam and the other ship, gather any information they could. The Redguard was literate, by the divines, and so Sarel handed him a journal, along with his telescope. Sarel noted that there was no masting canvas among the supplies, he sent a crew member to see if he could have some delivered to the boat. There was also a broken plank on the deck, he ordered the Imperial sailor from earlier to also cut a piece to fit that. He agreed happily. Sarel noticed Serge gesture for him to follow the group which had formed around Sharee, like a sycophantic fog. He walked over to join in the indulgence.

Malakas joined them, looking a little better, and friendlier. Sarel heard the tail end of Sharee’s speech and then Noelle. The girl was cute, smart, but inexperienced. “We don’t have the manpower for something like that, and besides, we’re pirates, not drug smugglers. We ought to be doing our work on the seas. We can take any one of those boats captain, I know it.” Sarel couldn’t speak entirely for the strength of the crew. They were coming together nicely and he could tell that there was potential in them. But he knew himself, he knew the boat, he knew the other officers well enough. All of them were strong. The officers alone, and a slightly refitted Imperial warship, was enough to take on some bootleggers in a heavily armored dinghy. Sarel had faith in his magics, in his boarding abilities, in his combat prowess. He could whip up a teleportation scroll and get himself, Kayal, Malakaus, and Serge below deck during their ambush, topple them from the ground up. There were any number of opportunities on the open ocean. That’s what Sarel liked the most about forming tactics aboard boats, they were portable theaters of war. “Anything we do, in the name of Boeth,” he said then, “must be done with this boat. We’ve poured our bloody souls into it.”

With a sober pride Serge chimed in, “Agreed.”

Ja ended up getting away from the Thalmor port authority after ten minutes of weaving through back alleys. He had eventually hidden amongst a group of drunken sailors that greeted him as one of their own. When the Thalmor questioned them about the Ja, they all looked offended, almost as if they really believed the Khajiit was part of their group, and the thought of him trying to steal from anyone was ridiculous. Not wishing to start a fight, the port authority continued on, still looking for Ja. Ja thanked his brief comrades and continued through the back alleys towards the tavern. In the alley beside the tavern, Ja climbed up the trash pile under his window and jumped up and grabbed the window sill. He barely managed to pull himself up and fell into the room, gasping. After a few moments, he got up and took all the remaining coin purses from his stash. a total of about 1,200 septims. After he took all his money, he walked downstairs, hoping that no one would notice he hadn't been downstairs at all. Everyone was absorbed in their drinks tonight, and were ignoring most everyone else. Ja nodded to the waiter, the same Khajiit from earlier, and left the tavern.

As Ja walked down the street, he wondered what he was going to do. He had a chance at a job, but made an ass of himself again. Thinking about it, he knew that if he hadn't had so many drinks he might've kept his head. As he neared the docks, his eyes began scanning the ships, hoping to see the Argonian from earlier so he could at least attempt to apologize for his making an ass out of himself. Once at the docks, he noticed a ship he recognized to be of Imperial make, though it had been stripped down and was under refitting. He was about to continue his search when he noticed the Argonian was on board the ship, addressing the crew. " Ah shit. She's the captain." He had thought about it, but the idea had never really stuck in his head. "I'll just wait. She seems to be busy." Ja sat down out of everyone's way and waited for the Argonian to finish what she was doing.

Sharee listened to the others' suggestions, all the while refining her own plan in her mind. Both of their arguments had merit, but neither really had thought of anything detailed yet. What Sharee had in mind certainly had its risks, but if it panned out how she hoped, it could make their first score considerably easier to take.

"My job isn't to act on faith, and hope, and all that nonsense, my job is to come up with a plan good enough to keep you all alive, and to get us all paid. There are some decent fighters on this ship, but this crew does have its fair share of idiots, at least for now. We need more time for training before I will consider them near as competent as you say. Sarel does have one thing right, though, and that is that we don't have the manpower, or more importantly gold, to get involved with a supplier. Plus, they tend to have more local officials bribed. Taking what we want on the sea is our best bet, and to that end, I have an idea." Sharee responded. She turned towards Kahl and looked at him, sizing him up in her mind. "You, Kahl, you were a slave on that other ship. If you went back there, I'm guessing the captain would either whip you half to death, or just kill you outright. However, if you went back with a bit of a bribe, they might just change their tune. A bribe in the form of, let's say, a full crate of skooma would certainly smooth things over. A crate like that would be worth even more than the life of a slave. Now, if you happened to be on that ship when it left port, you would be in a good position to sabotage their water or ale or whatever with a nice, potent poison. If another ship were to attack when most of the crew was incapacitated or weakened, well, it would be much easier to take, wouldn't it? All we would need to do would be to...acquire a nice enough bribe to send with the cat."

Noelle let out a light sigh as Sharee spoke about her plan. It certainly did seem risky, but on the bright side, should the plan fail early at least they wouldn't loose anyone aside from this runaway slave and maybe a crate of skooma. Now where they were suppose to get a crate of skooma was Noelle's question. "If... The runaway doesn't get killed, where are we suppose to get a crate of skooma? I suppose we could always steal one from a den, use that to bait the slavers and take the ship for ourselves. I'm sure that if we send some people out to get more information, we might even be able to find word of a bandit camp outside of the city. Surely they would have a nice supply of skooma for us to take. Alternatively, if we could get our hands on moon sugar, I could try to refine it into skooma instead. Moon Sugar isn't illegal here and we'd just need to find a place that produces it, which should be easier than finding Skooma." Noelle told Sharee of her thoughts before suggesting her plan. "I think you idea is good, captain, we just need the skooma now. We could either try to take some from the low lives near the city or make some ourselves. Once we have enough we can hand it off to the runaway and he his part of the mission. And after we liberate the slave ship of it's former crew we could... Take on the Miriam?" Noelle was still unsure if Sharee had any intentions of going after the Miriam, or if the slaves were the new objective now.

"Well, it looks like we have options." Sharee said, letting go of the bannister and turning around to face the others. "We need a crate of skooma, and we need it before that slave ship leaves the harbor. According to Kahl here, that ship should have enough skooma on it to give us a nice profit. Maybe not as much as the Miriam, enough. Depending on how often the Miriam makes this run, and how quickly we can get this ship outfitted once we get the funds from this job, we might be able to hit the Miriam later, but for now, let's focus on the slave ship. Taking on bandits for any skooma they might have would, obviously, require some fighting. Plus, we need to find them, though at least this option get's us the least confrontation with local authorities. Serge, I want you to have a few men ask around town about any outlaws in the area. Have them pose as bounty hunters or something. Another choice, as Noelle suggested, is to just make it ourselves. Since we don't have any coin to buy it, we would have to steal the moon sugar. I think it is pretty close to harvest time, so we might be able to take it straight out of the fields. However, that sugar is this islands lifeline. You can bet they keep their fields guarded. If we want to go down that path, we will need to evade or take down some guards. Sarel, I'd like you to scope out the fields to make sure the canes are mature enough that we could get some sugar out of them, and to see which ones are the least guarded. Another choice could be to intercept a crate bound for the Miriam. It might be the most risky strategy, but it would take the least work. It would be essential that we stay undetected on that, 'cause the Miriam certainly has some friends in the port authority that could make our lives difficult. Not to mention the fact that we will need to time the theft well. We would want to take it shortly before the slave ship plans to leave, to make sure the Miriam's crew doesn't have any time to investigate. Noelle, I want you to keep tabs on the Miriam and see if you can identify when they are expecting to haul in any more crates of skooma."

Given that they now had a solid course of action, Sharee could count their first day on the island as a success, but there was one more thing that needed to be dealt with before they could all retire for the night. "Now, before I dismiss you all, there is one last piece of business we need to address. Noelle, if you would be so kind as to wait under the mainsail, we can get your punishment over with. I will be right back in a moment."

Sharee grabbed one of the ship's sailors by the shoulder as he passed them by. "You, I want you to get the word around that everyone should get above decks immediately. And yes, I mean everyone. Now go!" She ordered. The surprised sailor responded with a simple "Yes, Captain." and proceeded below deck to start on his new task. Meanwhile, Sharee returned to her cabin so she could collect her whip.

Malakaus didn't spend a lot of time chatting with the dunmer girl and went back to round up the rest of the supplies and crew members. It wasn't long before he was fairly certain that the rest of the crew was not heading back towards the ship. Among them was Fletcher, the fairly useless bosmer that was stuck on Malakaus's team. He was still nursing his wound when the orc stepped up to him. "Hold it right there, Fletcher. You've been a disappointment since day one. You lie about your skills and you sold off a gift from me. Right now I don't even know why we should bother letting you breath." Malakaus spoke harshly to the wood elf, but instead of just cowering, the wood elf did have something of use for Malakaus.

He told him that after he woke up from being knocked out, he heard some moon sugar farmers complaining about stolen crops. They imagine that bandits out in the desert were taking their moon sugar to make into skooma. None of the guards seem to be able to find the time to go after them due to how isolated the their base is and doubts that anyone would even be there, despite the farm's testimony otherwise. Additionally, while Fletcher went back to try to get the amulet back, he heard the store owner yell to his worker about how he lost a shipment of refined Malachite. Fletcher took it upon himself to do more research, and it just so happened that where the shipment was lost was also in the same area where the bandits who steal Moon Sugar should be based at. After asking around the town, he managed to narrow down the location of the bandit camp to a ruined fortress. The sand and time had corroded most of the structure away, but without any guards to man it brigands and other criminals have taken shelter in the remains and use it's isolation and remaining fortifications to launch attacks on isolated caravans.

Malakaus thought about what Fletcher told him. It was mostly just rumors, and could very well be a dead end. Malakaus was hesitant to dedicate himself to pursuing something that could just be more lies on Fletcher's part. But if he was right, this would be quite a haul. 'Alright Fletcher, this will be your test. Get back to the ship and get whatever you need, I want you to go find this fortress, make sure it's the right place, and when you're certain that this isn't a dead end come back and report to me. If this turns out that you're right, than you'd be in better standing with me than before. And if it turns out you're wrong, you better not come back, or you head will decorate the bow of the ship." The wood elf scampered off as Malakaus stomped back towards the ship. He didn't have much hope for Fletcher but if he was right than Fletcher would be delegated to pursuing rumors and making sure that he and the crew had something to do in each city. Whether or not he gets to be part of it was a different question.

Cynric was surprised that he had not killed the two imperial women under his command. They had all of the qualities that Cynric detested in a person. Bubbling happiness, overconfidence and stupidity. Cynric was confused as to how they had not got themselves killed already in their travels. From the story's that Cynric had been told by the pair they should have been dead 2 years ago. There was some light in the darkness though. The Orc was slowly but surely becoming a better cook day by day, he had already read through all of Cynric's books and had asked to get more next time they made port. Cynric was happy that at least one of the three people assigned to him new what they were doing.

Cynric managed to gather his small cooking crew together before they had made port for a short meeting. "Okay my budding Chefs. We will be reaching land soon and I hope you use the time on land wisely. Do not go partying or doing anything that might draw attention to yourself or this ship. In fact, I have a task for you all. I want you to visit any place that cooks food and pick up some new recipes which I then want you to cook for me to taste. The winner will get this." Cynric placed a small bag of gold on the chopping board. "There is a small amount of gold in this pouch that should keep you happy should you win it. Apart from that there is nothing else that I need to tell you. So go and enjoy yourselves. But not too much."

Once the ship finally had landed he dismissed his charges with a nod of his head. The two Imperial women screamed like little girls as they ran off the ship bounding away into the busy streets. Cynric sighed deeply, looking over at the orc he saw him shaking his head slowly at the two girls he walked slowly into the street admiring the shops that littered the streets. Well. Cynric thought. At least I have one level headed individual. Calling over two orcS he ordered them to pick up the supplies that he needed and to put them onto the ship for him.

"Aye aye Captain..." The breton said somberly. She thought she would have more time, or perhaps that Sharee would have been merciful. And though Noelle's thoughts kept telling her to flee from her punishment, she did not. It would hurt both her pride and her body, but the very least she could do is maintain some dignity and take her punishment without embarrassing herself further for her mistakes. And in the back of her mind, she knew that she would recover. While she never had a taste of the lash before, she had healed those types of wounds before on others, and she could do the same for herself. Her pride might take more to restore, but maybe that was a good thing.

As the group dispersed Noelle took a deep breath and headed towards the mainsail. While she didn't want to think about it, she was a bit curios on Sharee planned to punish her. Noelle expected to be whipped, and she wondered if she would have to remove her clothes so that Sharee would be able to hit her bareback. That would be humiliating in many ways but that would be the intent. Or perhaps she would be flogged with vegetables. Though that was not only silly, but Noelle doubted that Sharee would waste food like that. The last method that Noelle thought of was something that both she and Sharee would know how to do well; Noelle would be made to ingest a vile poison. Not a lethal one per say, but no less painful. Noelle knew many ways to make the body react and convulse in sick and twisted ways. When she was with the Dawnguard, she made such poisons to use on Vampires. Most died to escape the suffering, and those who didn't were too broken to yield any information. "In hindsight, those were bad interrogations." Noelle cracked a small smile just to ease the tension. Something to make what was about to happen just a little bit less insufferable.

Sharee spent a few minutes in her room, contemplating the exact right level of punishment she wanted to give. She was not going to ignore Noelle's crimes, but in all honesty, she didn't care a great deal about what Noelle had done. The purpose of this little show was more to give a small taste to the crew of what would happen if they crossed her. They needed to know she would not let such offenses slide. On the other hand, Noelle was being cooperative, and she had not gone lax in her duties. Sharee needed to proceed with a delicate balance of punishment and mercy, as despite her attempted manipulation, she was shaping up to be a valuable part of the crew.

As she found the whip she was looking for, she came to a decision on what to do. She was still going to deliver the fifteen lashes, but there was one thing she could do to lessen the severity without letting the crowd know. Sharee took a healing potion, then poured a portion of it into a larger flask. From there, she added water to dilute it, then slowly poured it over the end of the whip. While the potion would be too dilute to actually close a wound any noticeable amount, it would have an affect on the pain Noelle felt. Each initial strike would hurt almost as much as normal, but the pain would taper off quickly afterwards to the point of being barely noticeable. It would be enough to make sure she felt the pain, but that she didn't have to suffer for too long after each hit. Noelle would undoubtedly notice that the pain was not what she expected, so Sharee would need to make it clear afterwards that Noelle was not to share that bit of information. Otherwise, that would negate the purpose of making this an example to the rest of the crew.

Sharee walked back outside with whip in hand, then collected a long enough length of rope for her purposes before walking up to Noelle. Pretty much everyone on the ship was now above deck chatting amongst themselves, though Sharee would wait to grab their attention until the main event was prepared. She threw one end of the rope over the boom above Noelle's head, then grabbed both ends once it fell back down the other side. "Alright, I'm going to tie your hands together above your head to keep you in place. I'm going to give a little introduction to the rest of the crew, then we'll get started. Fifteen lashes, then we're done."

As Sharee stepped past Noelle, she quickly brought her snout up to Noelle's ear and whispered to her. "Make sure you put on a good show, and we won't have to do this again."

Bringing herself once again back to a normal distance and normal speaking volume, Sharee continued. "Now, those robes, they're enchanted, right? Remove them, else I'll end up shredding them to pieces. Do that and I'll give the introduction, then I can tie you up and begin."

Turning away from Noelle, Sharee raised a hand in the air and shouted to get everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, listen up. I have a very special show for you this evening, courtesy of our very own healer Noelle. Such an...ambitious soul she is that she decided to take a stab at manipulating your captain. Tricking me through most...dishonest means into doing what she wanted. Now, I understand we're all a bit selfish. She is, I am, you are, it is a fact of life. But, here on this ship, we are going to be selfish together. You can take what you want, fill your pockets full of as much coin as you can find...as long as it does not come from a crew member. We're all going to get rich here. I'm not big on rules and regulation, which is why there are only two you need to worry about. Listen to me and the other officers, and don't do anything that hurts the ship or it's crew. Otherwise, well, you see what happens." Sharee announced, grabbing the rope and waiting for Noelle to be ready so she could tie her to the mast.

Sarel didn’t like the objective he was given. He glanced over to Serge who was complacently watching the waning boardwalk crowd. The Dunmer tapped his friend on the shoulder.

“I can’t leave the boat for too long, I’m trying to get this thing in working order, and I won’t be held responsible for loose railing or a weak spot during combat.” He spoke quietly, hoping it was quiet enough to not be heard by Sharee or any of the more loyal members of the crew. “I doubt I’d be able to delegate construction on the ship if I’m indisposed dealing with Sharee’s nonsense in some secluded plantation at the center of the island.”

“Want me to take care of it?” Serge asked nonchalantly.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I can take your mission; I already have my team-members ashore, tailing smugglers. I could send another member to help them widen their breadth.” Sarel said, watching the crew switch between personal conversation and prep construction work.

“Don’t you think Sharee might get upset?” Serge asked, showing more interest than worry.

“She made a mistake, Serge, that happens. We’re simply calibrating.” Sarel responded.

“You sound a bit like me.” Serge opined. Sarel’s only response was walking away.

The Dunmer walked along the bow section, starboard, to the center, where most of the work was happening. He ordered a small group to attach the platform and get to work on further armoring. There were still several slates of metal, perfect for quick and easy protection. Sarel sat at a table and wrote on a small pad with an ash-pen, one of the newest Dunmeri inventions. He wrote Dunmer numbers into several physics formulas in order to deduce the necessary weight of the metal slabs; a slight mistake in the balancing and the boat would tip during combat or evasive maneuvers, not to mention during unstable weather. Sarel’s Imperial team-member came up from his supper and the Dunmer flagged him down. “Your teammates need you. Tell them to also look for outlaws. Retain discretion.” The Imperial nodded and went ashore. Sarel handed the note to the same Imperial sailor he spoke to earlier, “These are the weights and lengths. See if you can find a way to cut those metal slabs.” This Imperial departed with orders as well.

Sarel took a moment to breathe and clear his mind, casually looking around the ship. Sharee came back above deck with a whip, and began tying Noelle to a post. What had she done? Sarel thought to himself. I bet Serge would like to be here right now.

His crimson eyes narrowed to slits as he watched Sharee handle Noelle and deliver her speech. A public punishment already? Quite the show.

A chill ran down Noelle's spine as she saw Sharee walk up to the deck with her whip. "So this is really happening..." Noelle said to herself. She clenched her teeth as Sharee threw a rope over the boom, likely to tie Noelle in place. Sharee whispered to Noelle to "put on a good show", which Noelle interpreted as gallows humor on the captain's part. Noelle just kept her mouth shut tightly. When told to take off her robes, Noelle was about to protest, but again was able to keep her mouth shut. She figured that she would need to do this anyways, so she began to remove the upper portion of her robes, leaving it hanging around her waist. She had no bra or other undergarments, and even if she did they would likely just end up torn during the whipping, leaving Noelle completely topless. She had no shame in showing her body like this, but it was much less titillating for her knowing what's about to happen. Sharee made her speech to the crew and all Noelle could do was stand their silently and let what needed to be done happen.