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Year 142, Felsite 11th, Midday, Namedtugged - Docks

I found myself at the bar again, not having seen the captain so far. He had said he would have been back from the trip by today, so it was odd that their ship hadn't arrived yet. Some would assume that there was trouble, that they were stranded or something similar to that, but I had pieced together enough information to hypothesise that the lack of winds was simply delaying the boat and that it would arrive in due course. The person attending to the bar asked me if I wanted any ale, to which I politely declined. My funds were far from infinite, and I wanted as much of that funding going towards this venture, so I wouldn't be caught out at a later time.

There were some other boats which wandered into port. They for the most part carried goods or materials to trade. I did however see a transport ship pull in just as the sun reached its peak for the day. I didn't recognise any of them, though it was fairly clear that they either were on official business with our guilds, or that they were migrating from wherever they had came.

It is of course interesting to speculate what their intentions may be, as they do not hail from our region. To flee and settle into a new life is certainly not easy; some must really find hardship worth enough to leave over, I wrote.

The choice to acquire a diary to record some of my thoughts had come up during the time that Captain Hunt had been on trip. Kubuk had certainly thought it was a good idea to make a record of events, should my journey actually prove to amount to any result, and I went to the trouble of investing in one several layers thick to ensure I had enough space to hold my thoughts in. It however did increase the burden upon myself to do so and though Kubuk suggested the help of a mage, I didn't think it would be necessary.

I caught sight of Hunt's ship making its way over into port, and I stopped writing for the moment. It was a grand ship, masts tall, pointed sharply and confidently, which seemed to reflect very much on the captain. It made me wonder what about Captain Hunt would make him good for his role, and I resolved to possibly inquire after such a topic at a later time.

The ship soon came to a full rest, and with the crew starting to unload their cargo, I kept my eyes open for the dingo that was the captain. I spotted him eventually, helping the rest of the crew, an action I thought a little odd.

"Ah, about time you arrived! You had me a little bit worried there," I said.

"Well, the winds were not exactly in high rates," he replied, his face partially shown an expression that said 'things are the way they are but nothing we can do about that'. "But they only slowed us a few hours. At worst, we've only lost a few hours of break before getting back to work."

"Ah, so no great loss then?" I asked.

"Indeed not. I'm already going to lose a bit of time showing you around the boat, aren't I?" Captain Hunt smiled, and he almost appeared child-like in his grin.

"If that's still okay with you, then of course."

The dingo motioned to one of his crew members, a reasonably slim wolf who happened to be taking a small rest. "Gregory, you take my place handling the unloading. I've got a guest to show around."

"Aye aye, captain," was the response, before he begrudgingly stood up to take Hunt's place which happened to be supporting some wooden furniture. "I'll hold you to my pay!"

Hunt waved it off, and motioned to me. "He's a little sore. Come on, let's have a look around!"

I nodded, and then we headed onto the boat, passing by another set of furniture on its way down. It was quite a magnificent piece of work, and though I had seen them only in the books, I could tell that the vessel would not let a captain and his crew down. "What is the name of this vessel, if I may ask?"

"The name? Well, he's called Valor's Strength. The shipscrafter had one heck of a tongue of naming boats," responded Hunt. "A representation of us, and of our crew, there may be no fear on the seas upon this boat. At least until Cousey made a spotting of those things, of course."

"Quite a name I must agree," I replied.

Hunt motioned to the door below the wheel. "Over there's my room. For reports and sleeping. Nothing too frivolous, not unless I meet a fine woman who wishes to join me..."

"Okay..." I said, not at all keen to know what Hunt got up to with his women. He didn't seem to notice as he continued. "The wheel's just above it, so we can manuvre our vessel about. Battle stations are just beneath us, followed after by storage and crew decks."

"In that order? Why is that?" I questioned.

"So if we spring a leak, they'll know to respond and rescue whatever we can."

We soon finished up the rest of the tour, and the dingo showed me my cabin. It seemed to be better off than most of the other crew quarters, which slightly confused me. "You seem to have prepared this room better than most..."

"Well, it's in part of the storage section, so we've had to accommodate for that. Took a little work, but I'm sure that a permanent guest room might help for travellers like yourself."

This caught me rather off-guard, as I hadn't expected at all to get so much even though I had only asked to travel on Captain Hunt's ship. "Why, thank you!"

"No problem Rorec. Feel free to make it your home, as it will be for the next few days. If anything comes up, we'll call out so everyone's aware so no need to worry, okay?"

With that, he left me be, as the rest of the crew began preparations to depart.