On instinct, when Prophet had rudely tried to jab his finger at Verial's head and chest, Verial moved a step back to avoid the confrontation. It became clear to him at this very moment that his walking down here to speak to Prophet upon the request of the ghost woman had been utterly counterproductive and he wished he had never come. However, it was apparently his fault he was stuck on the Arc (Ark) Meridian and no one else's. How convenient for him.

Verial shook his head and let out a frustrated, but soft sigh. "I didn't say it was your job. Settle down," Verial said his eyes narrowing for a moment. "All I asked was if you were the captain of the ship and I'm sorry that's TOO BIG of a question for you to handle."

He turned from Prophet with a shrug of his shoulders, shaking his head momentarily before climbing up the wooden steps to the deck. Prophet probably exhausted himself from getting so angry over nothing that he appeared to be taking a nap now. Verial crossed the ship's rocking deck towards the woman who still lingered near Dravvin Kirk.

"That was, by far, the most pointless thing you have told me to do," Verial said his odd colored eyes focusing on the blindfolded woman. "I want those ten minutes of my life back."

Not giving her much chance to respond, Verial moved towards the edge of the ship and looked out over the railing. The island was not too far off... but he could not judge how cold the waters were either. In any case, he'd rather risk his chances with Mother Nature and the ocean than be stuck aboard the Ship of the Damned with "Useless" and "Even More Useless".

For a brief moment, Verial turned his line of sight back to Dravvin and again lifted his should into a shrug. "You can stay here and hang out with them if you so choose," he began, "but I will take my chances elsewhere."

With that, Verial hoisted himself onto the railing for a few short seconds and then dived down into the waves below. His destination: the island. He was annoyed as he swam towards the shoreline; it must have been the dragon inside of him.

The Elemental had made his way to the deck of the ship, been told to wait where he was, and then left to his own thoughts. Well, those and the thoughts of the young lady also on deck. However, she didn't seem too inclined to answer his first question so he wasn't sure how she'd react to further questioning. There was a chance that she'd become annoyed with him.

So of course he started with the questions.

"Ok, this is the 'ship of the damned', does that mean that I'm dead or that I'm just stuck in some sort of crazy rip in the space/time continuum that formed a 'pocket universe'? Or is this all just a bad (no offense I'm sure you're a nice person) dream that all I have to do is pinch myself and wake up? Or perhaps all I need to do is will myself away and all will be done."

With that last thought, Dravvin closed his eyes tightly. His brow knit together as he concentrated. Sweat started pouring down his face, and his face turned blue. Apparently he'd decided to hold his breath as well. Letting the air out in a loud pant, he shook his head.

"Nope, that's not the way out." he confirmed.

Since the Lady didn't show any sign of answering any of his questions, Dravvin started exercising. He swung his arms back and forth from his sides and focused on the wind created from that motion. As when he was a child, he used that wind as a starting point. Feeling his powers "loosen up" a bit he tried making himself fly again. It came much easier this time, and the more he moved the easier it got. It wouldn't be as hard as he'd thought to get back into shape.

As he was doing all that, Dravvin continued his questions to the Lady before him, "So, you have a name? A Family?" A little higher off the ground. "A family pet? A favorite color? A favorite color for your family pet?" Higher still. The questions kept coming without a pause to allow the poor Lady to speak, until finally the man who'd gone below deck, returned.

Almost before Dravvin could say anything the man jumped overboard and started swimming towards an island that he hadn't even noticed before. The Elemental looked back over his shoulder at the nice polite (for she never once interrupted him) Lady and smiled waving to her. Without another thought he jumped over the railing, this time his power came quickly and he gathered wind up beneath him. Using that wind to propel himself forward and up slightly, he followed Verial.

"Where we going Chief?" is all he asked.

Dravvin's introduction struck her as unceremonious and awkward. He was the interjection that broke a moment of quiet between Verial's question and the pale woman's vagery that caused her to turn and appear before him like a light flickering out and then back in. Her hand reached forward, part of her sleeve was gathered up in curled fingers. She passed the fabric twice across Dravvin's perspiring brow gently. And though her eyes ( if she had any at all) were covered, she appeared to be 'looking at him' as her chin tilted up to pay her attention to him.

"One man's drama is another man's comedy" she in turn implied as she withdrew her touch.
"But, if it was told to you that this was a Ship of the Blessed it would not change the conditions of how you find yourself here."

The woman then momentarily withdrew from Dravvin like white foam receding from a sea shore...

She knelt down, as if falling prostrate on hands and knees. The gauzy shroud-like gown she wore shifted into a new skin that formed a pearl-like sheath of flesh-armor. Hands and feet spread to became paws. Nails elongated and curved to become talons for carving flesh from bone. Her hair became more coarse and a fringed ridge trailed down her back and from the cleft of her porcelain behind- and extended into a reptilian tail. Opalesque scales cut their way up from beneath the sheath of flesh. From between her shoulders a pair of winged appendages elongated and beat themselves outwards like a pair of fans unfolding themselves. Still, she retained some of her human-like feminine features, but there was no question in that she was a Drak, and seemingly blind as she coiled her tail over her naked lap. There were no eyes in the deep empty sockets of her skull, yet her awareness and ability to 'see' did not seem hindered.

When Verial returned to her more frustrated then he began she straightened up from the ground of the deck and pushed herself up by her talon-ed wings.

Verial: "........I want those ten minutes of my life back."

And while he didn't linger for a response, she still would reply before he jumped ship.

"You were always like that you know" she growled beneath her breath, sending her words forward to Verial so that they met his hearing as he fled the Ship.

"Running away from what you didn't understand, what frustrated you, what hurt you or what you feared. This is the mistake you've perpetually made. You are the Captain of your own Vessel."

He chose to swim, when he could fly. He always went about things the hard way. Perhaps in this he was like his mother. The shores of life always seemed closer to grasp than they felt in the struggle to swim to them. Verial's dark feathered wings would take on the weight of those cold, unforgiving waters.

Verial: "....but I will take my chances elsewhere."

But what chances did he really have against himself here?


Just as Verial's reaction to things had been impetuous, Dravvin's string of questions were demanding and impatient, and she waited until he was finished flailing and carrying on. She considered giving a name, but it had been forgotten.

"The soul drifts upon an unseen line within the unconscious, a veil between life and death in the collective reality of dream. This is not a lucid dream. And you are damned in that you have wandered far across the sea and into dark waters that you cannot rouse yourself from until you determine why you are here. I set Verial to speak to the man down in the lower hold. I would tell you to do the same...but you've already chosen your...progression."

As Dravvin parted ways to follow Verial she moved to the railing to watch them for a moment with indifferent curiosity. It was not hers to care or act in their behalf, only that she served her purpose.

In the next moment she appeared before Prophet, her presence only heralded by the glass-like sound of cold scales moving against themselves and the gentle rustle of her wings.

"I expected more from you" she declared.

Post originally by Character_Prophet

He said nothing for a few moments, ignoring the presence of the blind woman.

More was expected from him.

He answered, eventually, by slowly bringing up his middle finger. He held it there, letting it linger while remaining where he was in the hammock. When he spoke his voice fell like ice, "If you wanted 'More' you should not have called out to me. Besides, YOU sent him to me, like a small child to find out what was going on. that wasn't the right way."

He nudged his foot on the pillar, causing the hammock to swing. "He needs to go out on his own. Hence, him going over board." he murmurred, letting the rocking of the hammock sway him. Helping him relax.

"You know him best...yet you can't even read him."


Meanwhile...Dravin and Verial would approach the island. The boat would loom behind them but would slowly receed into the distance as they came across land.

The fog would encroach upon the entire island . It made it difficult to see, in detail, what was beyond the beach...but through the fog they heard the silence. There was nothing alive on the island...but yet they felt something was there regardless.

P

His single finger salute was ignored and as Prophet set himself in motion within the hammock her tail likewise swayed gently behind her in quiet contemplation.

A few moments passed as she stood there as if 'watching' him...before her talon struck out at one of the hammock's support ties, slicing through it at the foot-end. She looked down upon him then with certain indignation.

"I know what the young one needs. My reasons for sending him to you were two fold."

Prophet: "You know him best...yet you can't even read him."

"Well.. I am blind after all now aren't I? But I digress. Why are You here...Prophet? Hmm? Sulking in that hammock is... not the right way. Is it?"

His dive into the ocean had probably been not his smartest decision. Verial sucked in a deep breath as he treaded the waters for a moment; they were indeed cold and unforgiving but soon he found himself growing accustomed to the pushing and prodding of the waves. His feathered wings were gathering weight from the water, but this was not the first time he had swam in his life and soon enough like a duck he was learning to let the water move with his wings as he made his way towards the sandy shore ahead.

Verial offered a smile and let out a soft chuckle finding it humorous that he did, at what seemed like long last, get some reaction out of the blindfolded woman on the ship. Though her words were a bit strange ("You were always like that you know..."), he couldn't help but be amused by the fact that a growl had actually issued from her previously mysterious and humble lips.

"You should meet my mother!" Verial called cupping to hands over his mouth so that his voice would project over the waves and onto the ship. "You two have something in common now!" Verial knew very well how he was a pain in his mother's side growing up (and probably still now), though she always unconditionally loved him. Then again, Verial thought biting his lower lip for a moment as he swam, didn't most woman get frustrated with him eventually?

Verial heard a splash behind him and hoped it was neither Prophet nor the blind seer woman on the boat that had decided to follow him. Instead it was Dravvin, who Verial had not yet properly introduced himself too. Though Dravvin had a much easier time swimming in the water - he was a wingless creature and strangely took to the element of water quite well - Verial paused and waited for him. When Dravvin reached Verial, his hand pointed towards the shore of the misty island ahead.

"Over there," Verial said. "There's some reason why they are ignoring this island, as if they want me too also. Well, I'm going to find out what is there."

Weaponless and teeth chattering from the frigid water, Verial continued his pursuit towards the island. His legs almost felt numb from the cold and he hoped he would manage to make it to the island without sinking into the black depths of the ocean. After all, it was a lengthy swim.

"By the way," Verial said, "My name is Verial Akilara."

Though Verial was not aware of it, he was involved in many of the same events Dravvin had been associated with. One of them being the great plague that swept over a land called Mystra Amor. They had both been there when it happened, yet neither had ever met each other - in sickness or in death. Despite that great catastrophe, Verial found himself meeting Dravvin finally and both with a seemingly much simpler task at hand - swimming to the island.

It was a dead beach.

Water logged wings...

Cold, numb limbs...

the environment was harsh and no respecter of native or alien.

Verial was both in a way. His shouted words back to the blind seeress were wasted in the strangle of fog and slosh of frigid waters.

The shoreline was decorated with glittering, amethyst scales. It was not so much that light reflected off them, but rather from within them. They were also not a complete scale alone, but parts of a greater whole one. Shattered..most of them. This stretch of beach had a story of its own, having little to do with any visitors such as Verial...but yet, in an indirect way did if only for the fact that Verial was a dreamer.

It was for the most part a quiet place. Vacant of the cry of gulls.

To the left from where Verial and perhaps Dravvin also were, were a range of bluffs that seemed more daunting a path to roam. However on the climb up the steep grade towards them, there was a broken jar to the way-side.

To the right...down-a-ways, was an empty dock seemingly awaiting the welcome of the Ship that Verial and Dravvin chose to jump from. Lastly, behind the pair of adventurers just inland, laid ruins of a once approachable temple that now rested in a partially watery grave on the surface.

Around the numb legs of the swimmers were wrapped icy creatures, long serpent-like strands that gently pulsed as they fed from the warmth and will of their new hosts. It was not so much painful as it was more of an all encompassing drain. Only, Dravvin would be able to instinctively sense these leeches for what they were....and only Verial would be able to see them. The two would have to work together to rid themselves of this problem before they were reclaimed by the tides of perception from which their parasite will grow to return to.

Post originally by Character_Prophet

He fell from the hammock, smacking his head onto the hard wooden floor. The sound was a low, dull, crack, and the sound that broke from his lips was none to pleasent, and it was perhaps for the best the other pair left the boat as a new and colorful language of foulness was unleashed upon the bitch.

Because she was a bitch. Make no mistake.

The Fog bound island did little to reveal itself further upon their arrival to shore. The glittering of the amythyst upon the sand perhaps gave a sense of peace. It was, after all, rather peaceful. Much like a Grave, especially your own when you are tired.

The temple itself was easy to miss unless you had actually turned around to look at it properly from their position. On the approach it would seem little more then the normal rocks and craigs of any cold beach, but...yes...there was a temple there. Towers cracked in ruin that collapsed beneath the waves, and the subtle signs of a wall that was only barely visable beneath the waters. The roll of the waves moved over the temple, leaving little to view unless they were just that insane enough to drop in swim within it.

They couldn't be that foolish, could they?

Beyond, further into the island and the Fog was the sight of trees. Dark shapes that were hidden away within the fog...


...and dark shapes that moved.