((I only want one person for this topic, one that will post a thon... first come first served.))

It was a fine day in the port Adúnë, and an important one as well, all the hard time of the workers would finally pay off, as they were about to exchange a very large amount of goods, the most various of them, for gold pieces. The whole economy of the city of Lómëdor will have a substantial boost. As an assignment most of the local militia watched as the largest vessel of the port was being loaded, making sure that the whole event will unfold without any incidents. Curios people also made their presence known around the docks, organized into a hectic mob of people.
It took almost all morning and half of the day, for all the goods to be safely loaded on board, by the crew formed of one hundred sturdy and experienced sailors; and by the port’s employees.

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The ship was struck by lighting soon after it left the port. As an uncommon as it might looked, it happened. The sky nor the clouds never announced the imminent approach of a storm or lightning discharges around those parts – around that time. The strike came like a bad omen and jeopardized the whole business as the vessel was caught on fire, sustained by the old pieces of wood from which it was built. It looked like a living torch, powdered with tons of alchemist’s fire. Hell itself broke loose on the board of Celeste, and her crew members desperately tried to extinguish the hazard, but to no avail – the fire soon started to claim some of the men as well, they jumped into the water to save themselves…

Celeste was one of the biggest ‘sisters’ in the port, a cargo ship specially designated to carry those valuable merchandise to other lands across the world to the neighbors of the continent of Ea.

There was a high possibility, and not very improbable that the whole thing was orchestrated by someone from behind the scenes – the lightning itself might have been summoned by a wizard or sorcerer of sorts who wanted to get rich over the night by getting their hands on the merchandise. That was to be sorted lately, the main concern now was the safety of the people on the board of Celeste who cried for help to the people on the docks; the other concern was to save as many goods as they could before the fire would claim them all.

Two more vessels were dispatched, in a grand rescue mission, aboard of those ships were other brave sailors as well as people who didn’t have any connection with the ship, but wanted to lend a hand. One of them was Zekhen, the desert elf.

It would be a matter of time before the ships will reach Celeste.

The port was alive with excitement today, and for good reason. Today was the day that the large trading ship Celeste left port to start its long trip to distant lands. There was money to be made and Sailors to say one last goodbye to. Crowds of people flocked to the docks to wave their goodbyes and good lucks. Sailors were busy packing up the last of the supplies and cargo.

Anika was ready to take advantage of all this chaos. She had wanted to see the world, but being mortal had no time and being 19 had no money. She would do what she needed too, and that meant hiding in a crate and sneaking on board. It had been a long and uncomfortable wait, but the end would be worth it. She would finally be at sea and able to see lands she could never get to by foot. Her day dreaming painted fascinating and spacious scenes in the dark and cramped box. That was the only thing that passed the time for her.

Her dreaming was soon disturbed when she felt her box being picked up, and later placed onto ground again. She waited a bit before popping the top off and peaking out. She was now in the cargo hold, surrounded by hundreds of boxes, barrels, chests, and bags. This would definitely be a long journey.

This long journey was short lived however, as only minutes after leaving port, a horrible crash came from above and a sickening crack was heard from all areas, accompanied by shouts, screams, orders, and the crackling of fire. All pandemonium broke out.

Anika quickly ran to the top of the ship to see that it was on fire. How had this happened. She was not sure, and was quick to put it in the back of her mind, for she needed to help now. She quickly reached into her pack and took out a canister of purified water. She fumbled with the lid, but soon spilled the liquid treasure within out onto the gluttonous flames. It did little to stop the fire's tirade.

She quickly ran to the side of the ship, looking over to find that other ships were coming to help. A heavy hand soon fell upon her bare shoulder " Hey you are not suppose to be on board! But I guess that don't matter none now. Take this bucket and put that fire out!"

Anika grabbed the bucket and nodded her head. She ran over the fire and through the contents onto the flames again. Smoke began to billow into the sky, staining it a horrible black. The greedy fire spread quick and the heat on the ship grew. Anika began to sweat and she ran to the side of the ship, trading her empty bucket for a full one. She could never escape from her bad luck.

Dean scuffled through the noisy port of Adúnë, where there was always work to be done. He had his hood pulled up all the way, partially covering his eyes to ensure that his face was completely protect from the sun. He had most of his face wrapped in black cloth as well, as it was particularly sunny out, and if his hood were to be removed, it would mean a swift and painful death. He walked with his gloved hand stuck into his pockets and his coat pulled tightly around him. He probably stuck out in the crowd of half-drunken sailors and busy merchants, but he didn’t care. Everyone else was too busy working to notice him anyways, and if they did, the sight of him would quickly flee from their consciousness.

Dean had come here in search of a rather nasty coven of witches that were apparently making their money from defiler-worshipping rituals. If there was one group of people he hated, it was damned witches. They were always spilling their bodily fluids this way and that, while chanting their strange incantations and consuming all manner of dark herbs. He had already found the previous hideout, littered with pentacles and all manner of other dark paraphernalia. Spellbooks, potion ingredients, even their precious summoning scrolls were left scattered on the floor. They had obviously left in a hurry, and only taken what they needed.

Normally, he would have left it to the authorities or BADI to take care of the coven. But word quickly got around, and apparently, they were plotting something big. Dean had tracked them to this port, but as far as he knew, they could be anywhere, and they could be anyone. His eyes darted about, looking for anything suspicious. He scrutinized everyone’s actions, ensuring that everything was on the up-and-up before allowing his gaze to move to the next person. The throng of people was deep, but his visual perception was good, and he was able to survey the scene without too much interference.

His attention was drawn away from the crowd, however, by a strike of lightning that split the sky. A roll of thunder accompanied it, and not a storm cloud was in sight. Dean threw caution to the wind, pulling his hood tighter around his face before running through the crowd. He bumped into several people, knocking some to the ground in his haste. The strike had just collided with the mainmast of a large freighter ship, one that was no doubt carrying something of value. Dean knew that somewhere, hidden, was the summoner of the bolt. But he knew that it was better to investigate the ship than to spend all day looking for a needle in this very large haystack.

Reaching the marina, Dean hopped aboard one of the small boats that were setting off to help the ship. They were mostly packed with sailors, but they were also recruiting any able-bodied man who was willing to help. Hoping to get some valuable information, he grabbed a spot aboard one of the tiny vessels and waited for them to push off towards the burning ship.


EDIT: Blargh, sorry, Anika posted before me. >_<

((No worries, if you want you can both continue posting))

The fire and obviously the lightning that caused it were for sure of an arcane nature, it was impossible for a normal fire to spread this fast and for a the sky to discharge and thunder during such a fine day. It was almost impossible to save the vessel now, but at least the sailors and some of the merchandise could be taken to safety, before they died a horrible death.

With a great effort the two smaller ships were rowed to the near vicinity of Celeste, the ladders to climb aboard the larger ships were already lowered. Zekhen quickly grabbed one of it and started to climb as fast as the muscles of his legs and arms allowed it. Meanwhile he reached to his belt and tried to take a grab of his black dagger, but his position was unstable and the small blade quickly found itself into the water and soon traveling to the bottom of the ocean.. lady luck was against him that day. It was a fine blade, but there was no time to mourn the loose of a weapon, it could have been always replaced or searched for later on, he dismissed any unneeded thoughts to the depths of his mind and continued to climb, soon the be on board, in an area surrounded by fire.

It was time to get into action, and with a flex of both of his writs and all of his fingers, water materialized out of thin air and fell splashing over a place, thus he made his way to one of the cabins where he suspected that someone was trapped inside. And so it was; he could not distinguish if the sailor found in the cabin was dead or merely passed out from the thick smoke, but nevertheless he got a hold of him and pulled him outside and eventually to safety. From his vessel, Zekhen was first to arrive into the middle of the hazard, but the others were not too far either.

As Anika tried to put the flames at rest, the wood below her feet broke, as they were weakened by the fire. When she hit the ground, her bag of herbal material spilled out. She quickly tried to scoop everything back into the bag, but she had lost a few packs of blinding powder.

Anika got up slowly, recovering from the fall the best she could. She found that she was back where she started in the cargo hold. Maybe there was something down here that could help them. She ran to one side of the ship, and began opening crates as quickly as she could. She found a barrel full of cabbage, one full of carrots, and in the crate that bore the stamp of the the Famous enchanter Tim, a few vials of holy water, along with other magical items.

Anika let out a sigh before scooping up the holy water quickly and ran back up towards the top of the ship " Oh how I regret ever coming aboard this ship." She opened the vials quickly, throwing the water unto the flames. It was of little use though, as she ship was long since salvageable.

All she seemed to be doing was tiring herself out in a hopeless attempt. There was not much else she could do however. She walked towards the edge of the ship to retrieve another bucket of water. The sailor chuckled as he gave her a full bucket " Now aren't you just a lucky lass!" He could not help but laugh, but Anika did not find it funny, especially in a time such as this.

She ran over and threw her bucket into the fire. When she turned around to trade and retrieve another, she bumped into a man who had just saved two sailors. She could not help but blush as she fell too the ground " curse my clumsiness" she thought to herself. She then felt very self conscious of herself, looking the fool being the only girl on this ship and being totally helpless on the ground. She picked herself up quickly, wiping the sweat from her brow " Sorry about that, is there anyway I can help." The heat was unbearable on the ship. She must have been sweating horribly, maybe her most unattractive moment in her life. She pretended as if she was pulling the cloth strap of her shirt up closer to her should, but as she did so she secretly checked the perspiration of her armpit, hoping nobody would notice.

The ship Celeste really was a sight to behold. One of the largest merchant ships that regularly docked at the busy port, her majestic sails caught the wind at a beautiful angle, the enormous figurehead leading the charge into the great call of the sea. Well, at least, she would have been such a figure of sublime perfection, if a fire wasn’t ravaging her decks. Debris and rubble fell into the waters, discarded either by sailors or by the ship itself. The lightning had done a number on the mainmast, splitting it into a million splintered pieces much like an axe splits a log. The sails fell away into the water, sinking to the bottom to join most of the cargo and a few of the sailors. It was beyond Dean why someone would want to do this to a ship; it seemed downright irrational. Why burn the cargo if their aim was to make money from it.

“Perhaps,” he thought, “They don’t want to sell the cargo for the cash. It’s possible that they’re being paid to destroy whatever’s on this ship” Which, then, of course, begged the question: What was on this ship that was worth going to these lengths to destroy it? Obviously, something besides rations, merchandise, and black powder were stored away beneath the flaming decks of the ship.

When the tiny vessel reached the starboard side of the ship, Dean leapt into action, climbing up the fishing nets that had been tossed over the side to provide the rescue efforts a way onto the ship. He scrambled to his feet once he made it over the railing, scrambling to ensure that he wouldn’t end up caught in the flames himself. Dean ran to and fro, dodging falling debris and herding people from the deadly inferno to the safety of the tiny rescue boats.