Batten Down the Hatches [Mature]

[Leoric]

Leoric barely had his eyes open before the pounding began in his head. He groaned as he sat up and was overwhelmed by the assault to his senses. He had spent the night drinking his fill and enjoying whatever came his way. The sun beaming in through his window and across his bed warmed him up slightly as the small dust particles could be seen floating through the effulgence. The drunken brawler lazily through his feet over the edge of his inn bed and grumbled as the frigid wood floor caused his toes to curl.

“Where you going darling?” a groggy voice called out from behind him. Leoric blinked and turned around facing the naked woman still in his bed, she had shoulder length red hair that perfectly accentuated her face, her glistening blue eyes seemed to tell the story she was also drinking last night, although he doubted it was as much as himself as he had no recollection of sleeping with anyone last night. he did remember making the deal with her though, in exchange for the magical stones he needed, all he had to do was give her a night of passion and lust that her husband never could.

“Gotta get those stones out of here before the church finds us or them, so leaving as soon as the ship is ready.” Leoric huffed as he forced himself to stand, his head throbbing as the smell of fresh cooked breakfast hit his nose and his stomach demanded sustenance. “Go back to sleep, if i spot the church i will be back to warn you.”

The Brawlers clothing was never really suited for the Climate out here, Plain looking leather jacket, some plain pants, a slightly sweat stained white shirt, and some tar stained thick leather boots, but buying an obscenely large fur cloak seemed to keep him nice and warm. As he was getting dressed he noticed her clothing and thought to himself that they looked too nice for just someone out drinking the night before. But he was really too hungover to care too much.

Leoric grabbed his gloves in his hand and donned his cloak as he walked downstairs and across the sparsely populated Inn to get some breakfast. “The usual” he requested as he sat down at the bar and was brought this inn’s version of a coffee, although it tasted more like hot bog water then anything else. It wasn’t long before an oblong plate was placed down in front of him with a few eggs, some mystery meat that he was never able to really place and a dollop of some beans in a sauce that was oddly indistinct. It wasn’t the nicest tasting thing in the world, but in a frigid place like Salvar? Any hot meal was a beautiful thing to have.

As he stacked a bit of egg on top of the meat and tossed the last bite into his mouth there was a commotion outside, he sighed and stood up tossing some coins to the counter and thanking the man behind the counter. After the drink he had and his meal his headache had subsided mostly but his eyes still hated the light.

“You! Sir! You look like a trustworthy fella!” a slightly over eager man approached Leoric. “Please! You must know something, I am looking for my wife! She told me she was coming out this way last night to get a few things from the shops and she would be back, but she never came back last night!”

“What did she look like? And what was she wearing?” Leoric sighed as he rubbed his beard out of frustration and looked at the now established panicking man.

“Well, she has shoulder length red hair, deep blue eyes, like the color of water in the warm sun, she has a hourglass frame and she has a pleasant voice to listen to.”

Leoric resisted as much as he could from both laughing at the man and giving away that he had spent the night with her. But seeing as he was setting sail soon he didn't mind pointing him in the right direction.

“Last i saw her was at a tavern last night and struggling to walk so i offered to get her, her own room, at this inn. You can find her upstairs, third door on the left. But with how much she was drinking, you may want to lower your voice when you find her and talk slowly.” Leoric gestured behind himself to the door he just walked out of as the man thanked the hungover brute and walked inside. Leoric sighed and slid his leather gloves on over his fingers, and began walking towards the docks, he turned down a few alleyways so that if the man found out leoric had spent the night burying parts of himself into her guts he wouldn't be able to find him as easily as if he just walked straight towards the ship.

After about ten minutes he arrived at the ship as they were pulling up the last of the cargo, several of the ship's crew had some devices on their wrists that were letting them zip around the ship’s rigging, doing last minute inspections, while others were using them to help move large crates of cargo. A talisman would be slapped on a box and then two ropes fired off from each wrist, and then the large crate would act like it was completely empty and could be dragged and rearranged easily. Several crates were lifted up and lowered into the cargo hold using this method.

“Ah! Leoric! Right on time! We are getting the last of the cargo loaded up right now, we are just waiting on our last minute guest from yesterday.” the captain said as he welcomed Leoric aboard the ship, putting a satchel of gold in his hand. “Half as we leave, and half upon completion, as we agreed.”

“Well now I don't need to break anything to get the money at least. And what do you mean last minute guest? I thought this was a cargo vessel?” Leoric said as he pulled the coin purse back into his cloak and clipped it on his belt.

“Yeah, well, she seemed in a rush to get back to Corone, and that is where we are going. So I figured why not make a little bit more coin to recover some of what we are paying you.” the captain chuckled as he elbowed Leoric’s side. The hired muscle rolled his eyes and spotted another crewmember nearby just as they lowered themself down from the crowsnest with their wrist mounted doodad.

“Captain, What are those devices? They look quite useful and fun.” Leoric inquired as he nodded in the direction of the crew member.

“Ahh! Those, a wandering inventor and tinkerer sold a bunch to us, called them Mobility assistance devices, we originally purchased them to help with rigging and getting the sails ready. But one of the crew members found a purveyor of some of our talismans that when slapped on a small to medium sized object would make it almost weightless for about ten minutes before the magic wears off. So we decided to use both items together and it makes loading and unloading so much faster and easier, the crew doesn't work nowhere near as much and we can get a new load aboard and off to a new destination within hours as opposed to days.” the captain was practically beaming with pride as Leoric was tempted to ask for a pair as well for his services but he was already being paid and didn't want to deal with an argument or debate this early into his hangover.

It wasn’t long before the ship was ready to set sail and the captain noticed their late addition to the roster running up the docks. At first Leoric could have swore it was his woman from the night before, but as she ran up the boarding ramp he knew they were completely different people, for one, the woman he saw this morning didn't have a sail for a forehead. But as she was welcomed aboard the captain barked his orders and the sails came loose and they began their several week journey. But Leoric couldn't help himself, she was gorgeous, and he was hungover.

“Captain, if we ever need some more wind, just put her at the aft of the ship, that forehead of hers will catch enough wind to get us to Corone in a week.”