"What are you guys doing?" Sydra asks as he follows Cidre down to the ground, only to find the group quickly putting down sticks and acting as nothing happened.
"Hey, we were just looking for you," Robert says as he kicks the stick that had been in his hands off into the bushes nonchalantly. "Where did you find a ship?"
"I found it in a harbor that belonged to the people who use to live on this island. They built a whole settlement inside a cliff over on the north side of the island. There wasn't much else inside the place, but I did manage to find the ship and fix it up using pieces from the other two that were docked there. I also found a map that showed where a few other islands are around here, and I was thinking we could visit them," Sydra says as he pulls out the map and shows it to the group. If Sydra wants to stand a chance against the pirates, then he had to fix the rest of his ship up and try to get some firepower in the process.
"Which island will we be visiting first?" Erich asks as he studies the map. There were a total of three islands that had people living on them, according to the map, and Sydra planned on visiting the closest one first.
"This one is called the Shawoil Island, and it is supposed to have people living on it that are amazing when it comes to shipbuilding. In the journal I found earlier, it said that even the houses are shaped to look like the hull of ships, with multiple harbors around the island. The journal also said that the people on the island love to trade ship blueprints for wood and metal that they need to build more ships. Considering we have those two items in a high quantity, I was thinking that would be the perfect place for us to go," Sydra says as takes back the map and begins leading the others back to the beach.
"That makes sense, but what more needs to be done to your boat that you haven't already done?" Robert asks as Siel transforms into his sea dragon form and carries the group over the water on his back.
"I was hoping to get my hands on some cannons, and maybe reinforce the front of the boat with a large spear-like weapon. That way we can ram into the enemy and hold them in place while we fire our cannons into them," Sydra says as they reach the boat and he jumps up onto the deck to lower a rope ladder down for the others.
"Welcome to the Sunloft Ship, I'm the captain of this fine ship," Sydra says dramatically, as the straw golems do a small bow behind him. After the others laugh, Sydra orders the straw golems to get back to work and chart a course for the first island.
"While you guys are doing that, I'll go ahead and talk to the other sea life to see where Corbel is at the moment. I'll meet back up with you guys in a couple of days at the island," Siel says before bidding goodbye and hopping off the boat and back into the water. As Siel swims away, Sydra leads the group into the Captain's quarters, to discuss what they should do while they travel across the sea. It will take them around two days of sailing to reach the island, and they needed to prepare themselves for any scenario.
"For the moment we are going the right direction to reach the island, but if a storm hits us it may throw us off course and we might end up lost at sea. That's why I need you to learn how to read the stars with this and pinpoint our location at night," Sydra says as he pulls out an astrolabe and a book about how to use it, before handing them over to Cidre. "After you have finished learning how to use that, I will make you the sailing master, and you will be in charge of charting our course, and keeping track of the maps."
"Got it, I'll learn how to use this right away," Cidre says as he went to sit down on the couch that was nailed to the floor, before studying the book and glancing at the astrolabe on occasion.
"Now for Robert, I need you to read all these books about cannons and keeping ammunition clean. With your fire power, it will be easy for you to light the fuses on the cannons, but try not to set off the gunpowder on accident," Sydra says as he pulls out several books about cannons, and the best way to load them. Taking the books and nodding his head, Robert heads over to a chair and begins to read.
"What job are you giving me?" Erich asks as he stands excitedly in front of the desk that Sydra was sitting behind. Pulling out a book about the roles of people on a ship, Sydra frowns in contemplation.
"I'm not sure... Most of the things I need people to do can be done by the straw golems. Oh, I know, you can keep a lookout for any danger that lurks around us at the moment. I set up a nice canopy over the top of the crow's nest, and I need a flag built for our ship. I was thinking something like a tree with red leaves, wrapping its roots around a blue sun would look pretty cool. I'll give you some spiders to help you with its creation if you want the job. Other than that, you could also be our ship's cook, I'll have the food transferred from my Arbor Sanctum into the galley for you to use," Sydra says as he calls a few straw golems in to carry some food down to the galley.
"Yeah, I can do that. I'm assuming I should look out for things the ship could crash into, dramatic changes in the weather, or dangerous sea creatures that could pose a threat to us?" Erich asks as Sydra nods and hands him the spyglass he had picked up from the crystal castle, as well as two spiders and some thread for the flag.
"Yeah, sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you should watch out for. Use the spyglass to spot things that a ways away from the ship, and let us know if you see anything," Sydra says as Erich nods and leaves to go up to the crow's nest and get to work on the flag. Once everyone has received their jobs and gotten to work, Sydra pulls out a book about how to deal with weather while at sea and begins to read.
...
"The food is ready," Erich says as he opens the door to the captain's quarters, and walks in with several straw golems following behind him carrying platters of fancy meats. It's already night outside, and the group has been starving for the past hour for something to eat.
"It looks amazing," Robert says as he puts down his second book and picks up a platter of meat before heading back to his chair. After placing Sydra's platter on the desk in front of him, Erich goes to sit down on the couch with Cidre, who has already begun eating.
"So how is everyone's studying going?" Erich asks between mouthfuls as he looks around the room.
"It's going well so far, I've almost learned how to use the astrolabe, and I'm pretty confident in being able to fix our course if we fall off it," Cidre says as he holds the astrolabe up in the air before demonstrating how to use it. Robert then explains what he has learned about cannons, and Erich tells the group about how his day was pretty boring at first, but it got more interesting when he learned he could scout out the area beneath the sea waves with the spyglass.
After finishing their food, the group decided to head to bed, and Sydra allowed them to sleep inside the Arbor Sanctum, as he had yet to fix up the sleeping quarters for the group. Once the group was inside, Sydra commanded the straw golems to keep a watch out during the night and alert him if anything happened before heading back to the captain's quarters and lowering the bed he had hidden in the ceiling. Falling on top of the sheets, Sydra lifts up his book on dangerous storms ships can run into and begins reading once more. Over time, Sydra's eyes start to feel droopy, and he ends up dropping the book before falling asleep to the calm sound of waves brushing past the ship.
...
'Rumble' A loud clap of thunder startles Sydra awake as he jumps up from his bed and looks out the large window behind his desk. Large pellets of water were beating against the glass, and humongous waves were tossing the boat back and forth. Frantically throwing on some shoes, Sydra runs to the door, but it swings open forcefully before he can reach it, as a large gust of wind blows into the room.