Chapter 1: Sailing out

The great empires to the west, left dying from plague and famine, succumbed to the hordes of merciless invaders looking to take the spoils and steal their lands and riches. They had been the gates keeping the Blessed Lands safe from the barbaric raiding and pillaging. The peace that had been maintained at the cost of the blood of the just was shattered and with it, the old trade routes that brought the inflow of spice.

Our efforts to recover the lands lost to the heathen armies were to no avail. Even though the realm is safe under the leadership of the rightful king and the blessing of God, the seas lie plagued by pirates supported by our enemies. Their constant raids leaving nothing but sunken ships and burned villages behind.

Under the guidance of the greatest men of the realm, a daring plan was conceived. One pioneering fleet was to be organised and men to be recruited and trained. Its goals: weaken our enemy's presence at sea, circle their lands to disrupt their slave warrior trade route from its origin and find the fabled lands of spice way beyond that of our enemies

A horse carriage arrives at the port where the pioneering fleet is supposed to depart. Accompanied by servants, the spice merchant Martin Cominero and his younger, foreign wife Josephine arrive.
The merchant has lost many of his connections and trade partners due to the unrest in the west and his business is starting to lose more money than it is making because of it. Unwilling to give up his life's work, he signed up to take part in this expedition, hoping to be the first to find new sources of merchandise. His newly-wed wife Josephine insisted on coming with him, which not only he was unhappy about until she convinced him, but also the organisers of the entire expedition. A woman, and not even one with any sort of training that might come in useful during the enterprise, joining the fleet. However, owing to Cominero's connections and the substantial contributions to the fleet's funding that he made, hoping to make large returns from it, Josephine was eventually allowed to join the expedition.

The couple navigates the harbor until they find the ship that they have been assigned to. Servants carry their belongings on board while Martin Cominero oversees them.
Josephine meanwhile strays off, examining the ship and introducing herself to anyone of note that she encounters. She stops to make conversation with the ship's first mate, a man by the name of Francisco Veryard, who is a friend of her husband and whom she has met on multiple occasions before. Once he has to return to his duties, overseeing the stocking of the ship's storage, she returns to her quarters to make sure nothing of importance for the trip has been left behind on the horse carriage before seeing the servants, who are not joining the expedition, off. Not having a particular job to do or goal in mind, she continues wandering the ship afterwards, trying not to get in the way of the sailors while getting as good of a mental image of the vessel's layout as possible.

The sound of drums beating was heard long before the 1st Naval Infantry Regiment has arrived. Soldiers marched in carrying banners of the Crown attracting the eyes of common folk. They then split into companies and went to their assigned ships.

One such company was lead by a tall man in his 30s. He is wearing a wide black hat and cuirass over a fine red and yellow striped clothes. There is a Toledo sword hanging on the belt. He has black piercing eyes, an imperial goatee and a few small scars on his face. The man approaches the Captain of the ship and hands him sealed letter, "Captain DuVaile, its been a while, this letter contains your orders for the upcomming mission," he says. Captain DuVaile quickly opened and read the letter before answering, "It seems we will be sailing together again, Captain Verne, hopefully this voyage will be less bloody then the last we shared." As he is looking back at his men, Verne says with sadness in his voice, "Yes, I hope so too, we've lost too many good men." Captain puts his hand on Venre's shoulder, "It is good to have you with us, Conrad, you may get your men aboard." Conrad nods and returns to his men.

"Lieutenant Mayers," Conrad orders a younger man, "Get our men aboard!"
"Aye-Aye Capt'n!" Lieutenant Mayers answers and proceeds shouting orders.

The port is busy with all sorts of people moving around, the deafening noises of the hectic activity, mixing with the fresh smell of the morning breeze, fish and sweat. As the sun slowly rises in the sky, horses and bulls move wagons around the narrow streets to and from the city markets, cargo on the ground for slaves and servants to load the heavy cargo onto the ships. People flock into the small square to watch the great expedition, children playing catch with the chickens on sale in the market and housewives browsing the daily produce. An old man stays next to the ships, shouting ill omens "Sending fisherman to do a soldier's job!", "Men find glory fighting on land instead of running to the sea!" or "This expedition is the shame of the nation!", mostly to no one in particular.

Suddenly, the sound of drums beating announces the royal carriage approaching, surrounded by a procession of clergymen and soldiers. The drumming marching noises slowly grab the people’s attention and the square quiets down. The priests quickly board the ships, spreading holy water and blessings on the strong wooden structures. The carriage door opens and a man steps down. Most people would not recognise the man, but the herald is quick to announce "His royal grace the Infante Don Fernando and duke of the Northern Mountains". Everyone looked to the man behind the enterprise as the 1st Naval Infantry Regiment arrives behind, soldiers carrying the royal banners of the Crown. As the holy men before them, the regiment splits into companies, marching by the prince as their leader bows in respect to the royal prince and goes to its assigned ships. Another rich carriage stops close to the royal one and some boy servants are quick to open the doors, helping a well-dressed lady step down. Her husband, non-other than the wealthy merchant Martin Cominero whose substantial contributions were essential to setting up the expedition itself, moves close to the prince, sharing some words as they move around, checking all the preparations for the expedition. She strays off to chat with make conversation with Francisco Veryard, the ship's first mate, which got some strange looks and low murmurs from the peasants. As they exchange pleasantries, a man followed by a ragged looking boy walks unnoticed along the ruckus of the harbour. The pair stops one step before the wooden bridge that leads to the ship, the man beginning a monologue, earning him strange looks from Josephine and Francisco. Noticing the woman that will join the expedition, the sailors readily find a disproportionate number of hard working tasks needing completion. CeeBee Uriah, superstitious as most sailors, eyes the woman and curses to himself as he watches her speak to the officers in charge, then looks around trying to surmise who might be escorting or accompanying her, finally noticing her husband now instructing servants with their luggage. Women on a ship is very bad luck: she'll attract a storm at sea he was sure of it. He could almost feel the strange calm that comes just before… In the mist of the sailors, Roberto Paddington, a new member of the crew stood quietly doing some menial tasks, eyeing Captain Verne handles the orders to the ship Captain DuVaile.

The fleet is made of a number of ships of different sizes and shapes. As you all approach the ship assigned to you, you can't fail to notice it is one of those new caravels that were developed specifically for this expedition. It is a 3 small decked ship with two masts with triangular sails and another one, the foremast on the bow of ship, with a square sail. The narrow upper deck rises to form the forecastle and sterncastle, giving you an impressive view into the carefully crafted ship as you walk the wooden bridge. It is not the biggest of the fleet, but you suddenly feel proud of such creation that would put any of the old sea cogs to shame.

As the ship gets ready to depart, Josephine and her husband are in their quarters. They are no sailors so they're not needed for the actual sailing duties. However, after some time, a young sailor with black hair comes in and collects Martin as he has been selected to join the scribes and assigned as master of inventory. As Martin leaves to pick up his duties, Josephine lies down on her bunk with a smile. With dear husband's position, she should be able to keep an ear on everything important going on during the voyage. And as master of inventory, he might be able to provide her access to the expedition's equipment if she plays her cards right.

She lies there for a few minutes, thinking about this stroke of luck, until she gets bored. She considers writing some notes in her journal but decides to wait until the end of the day. Not enough has happened yet.
Instead, she leaves the quarters and decides to wander around the ship. She stays out of the sailors' paths in order to not get in the way, but she is very aware of the impact her presence has on the poor men. Many of them stare and for a while it is entertaining to sort out which ones are staring because they are afraid she will bring bad luck to the expedition and which ones because of her looks. For now, the attention is thrilling and Josephine is already thinking about all the doors that being the only woman on board might open for her, but she makes a mental note that she might have to dress down to draw less attention in the future. Before the attention turns too negative.

She continues wandering and finds herself drawn by the stern castle, holding not only the captain's quarters but also the navigation charts and equipment. As she approaches it, however, a tall and somewhat thin man with a clean shaven face and short brown hair steps in her way. "The captain is busy. Please don't disturb him at this time", he asks - in a softer tone than he would probably use with any of the men, Josephine notes.
"Forgive me, I was just acquainting myself with the ship. It will be a long journey after all", she replies with a smile. "Josephine Cominero"
The man tips his sailors' hat at her and replies: "Matteo Liuti, miss. I hear your husband has been chosen as master of inventory. You must be very proud."
Josephine's smile becomes slightly less genuine, but there is no chance that this man is observant enough to notice the difference. "Of course, of course", she replies.
She chats with the man for a minute or two before she eventually turns to leave and says: "I won't disturb you any longer. You are an important man, Matteo"
As she turns away, she can see his expression change into a proud smile at the compliment. Of course he isn't actually that important but if Josephine needs to get into the captain's quarters or to the equipment, buttering up a guard there can't hurt.

Until Martin returns from his duties for the day, Jospehine simply moves around the ship, talking to people without getting in the way of the actual work. If something of note occurs, she tries to be there and see what is going on but she has no real plans for this day yet.

Concerned with which of the ship's crew are going to allow the woman on board to become a distraction and jeopardize the mission, CeeBee approaches a young sailor named Jessop Klyne. Jessop's a relatively new member of the ship's regular crew, having only set sail once before, but unlike many green sailors, CeeBee saw Jessop come to get along well with the crew. The kid is honest and a hard worker, he's shown himself to be a fast learner and willing to admit to his mistakes. CeeBee was assigned to to teach Jessop the basics last time they set sail, and because of this his supervisory role, they had a strictly mentor/learner relationship and CeeBee didn't get to enjoy the sort of camaraderie that Jessop formed with the others on board.

That being said, the kid followed orders without question (unless questions needed asking to do something correctly, that is), and so CeeBee puts a task to the kid to keep his ear to the ground and listen to the scuttlebutt amongst the crew and report which of the crew seem overly distracted with the presence of the female over the next couple of days. He knows that Jessop is good for following orders and obeying instruction, but whether this loyalty will override his camaraderie with the rest of the crew after hours is uncertain to CeeBee.

Being one of the few sailors not going out of his way to crowd around the women coming on board, Roberto realizes he's beginning to stick out like a sore thumb, but figures that far less trouble would come of it than to join with the others. Noticing his conspicuousness, a gruff voice, rattling off like a toad's croak says from behind him, "They're scared of yah you know?" Roberto turns to see an old sailor, perhaps twice his age, with a crook in his neck he can't believe the older man can bare to work through. He looks rough, not just with age, but with the look of a man that has gone to hell and back. The man gestures to the gang of sailors all piled up on the other side of the deck, "They know yer a con lad. Just like how yah know I'm one. Don't cha boy? Ain't easy to hide yerself when yah got that look on yer face, aye?" The older sailor introduces himself as Dominic Ruiz.

This may be the only man willing to trust me Roberto thinks, but at what cost? He's clearly made some mistakes in his past life, and if they were to be seen together, this might do him more harm than good. Roberto thinks over his next words carefully, attempting to find the courage to address the man with kindness.

Once Conrad and his men were aboard of the ship, he immediatelly starts getting himself acquainted with the ship's layout. "Lieutenant Mayers," he calls his lieutenant, "These looks like good positions for sharpshooters, don't you think?" he says pointing at the spots on the upper deck which would provide good cover and vantage points in case of a sea battle. "Yes, I agree, we should also place a couple more on forecastle and sterncastle as well," Lieutenant Mayers agrees. "Excellent thought, Lieutenant Mayers," Conrad says, "Put a couple of men in the crow's nest too." They walk around the ship, from deck to deck discussing deffensive and offensive protocols, assigning soldiers to their posts and preparing patrol routs and shifts.

"I think that covers it, Captain," Lieutenant Mayers says as they finish. "Not yet," Verne says, "Mr. Cominero brought his wife along, bloody fool, we need to make sure that not our men nor the sailors will lay a hand on her, after all, she will be the only woman in a ship surrounded by water and men... for a long period of time." Lieutenant Mayers nods, "Ah, yes, Mrs. Cominero, she already gets the looks," he says. "In that case, you are in charge of her protection, I believe you are noble enough to not try to cheat on your wife," Conrad clap him on the shoulder, "Also, I want Private Higgins to look out for potential troublemakers, he is good with people and will surely mingle with seamen anyway."

Seeing the fleet start to move, but not feeling the usual gentle swaying of the river waters as the ships leaves port, captain DuVaile abandons his quarters to find first mate Francisco Veryard hectically running around the upper deck, yelling instruction at everyone. "Where did that bloody doctor go? Hey, you!" he looks at Roberto Patson and Dominic Ruiz "Enough chit chat! Back to work. We're not going to be left behind!" The music from the port rises to fill the air as the expedition launching ceremony continues full force in a chaos of acrobats, military processions, religious services and speeches. "Captain Verne, we need your men to show these lazy sailors how to work!" He runs around, showing which ropes to pull and how to use the sails to catch the wind to the new sailors "CeeBe, get some of those apprentices over there to tie those ropes starboard!"

Under the enraged instructions of the first mate, and the watchful eyes of the captain, the crew redoubles their efforts working twice as hard to catch up with the leaving fleet. None of the two men look like they will be very pleased with starting the expedition in such a shameful way...

Curious why the ship is apparently not moving with the others, Josephine moves to where the commotion on deck is happening. The boat shakes suddenly and the unexpected movement catches her off-guard. She almost hits her head against a nearby plank but catches herself in time to avoid the injury.
Now moving more carefully, Josephine watches for a short while as the sailors are struggling to get the boat in order and ready to depart when a thought occurs to her. There seems to be a clear divide between the sailors and the command staff here and she can probably ingratiate herself with either group by intervening. The only question is, which group should she support?

She walks up to Veryard, avoiding any sailors moving around on her way. "Francisco, my friend", she says. "I see you have your hands full here with this pack. I know I am supposed to stay out of matters of running the ship but maybe I could help somehow? I saw some sailors slacking off over there. They don't seem to be accepting your authority. Would you like me to talk to them? Or maybe to call a soldier over to help you enforce discipline?"
Her voice is innocent, as if all she wanted really was just to help, but she chooses her words carefully, trying to anger the first mate and to further the divide between sailors and leadership - with her on the side of leadership.