Ruined Mecca.

"Ah, hello. My name is Loret. Are you the mechanic?" Loret turned to see the man and wondered what the problem must be.

Such crazy devices people have nowadays what with their pipes and shaped metal. How very curiously time changes. Loret pondered as he stood there.

Seraph had basically drank himself into a coma. He woke up with a huge hangover, and by hangover he was still kinda drunk."Hmmm I wonder where Jack is? Considering he's the only one I've really talked to. Actually where's that captain guy. Shay, that's his name. Think I should go talk to him."He looked at his empty rum bottle and tossed it over the side of the ship. He reached into his pack and pulled a bottle of water out and chugged it then tossed that over the side."There that should help my alcohol induced dehydration."

Bharat looked over at Chelsea.

<Don't worry, young one, we are near finished. You should go in the ship and start mending holes with Ven.>

The voice was vacuumous inside her head, but it was calm.

A little freaked out at the voice Chelsea listened to it and went to look for Ven.

Ven rubbed his eyes.

"Aye, i be the mechanic" he replied.

The water on the floor was all but gone. Drained out the small holes in the corners of the room. He stumbled toward his visitor.

"What ye want? I gotta fix this thing so we can be off." He jerked a thumb at the monsterous engine behind him. The massive boilers and pipes and gears sat cold and empty.

"I apologize from interrupting you from your work. I was wondering if you had anything I could borrow to break rocks with. The cave your ship smashed into was blocked by a rock wall, due to the crash there is now a hole in this wall and I am trying to get to what is beyond it." Loret explained clearly and quickly.

Ven lowly groaned and turned a storage room sealed with a large lock. He pulled out the key from his dirty leather jacket and unlocked it.

"Wait here" he said as he entered and shut the door behind him. The sound of him rummaging around inside was heard for a minute or two until he reamerged with a aluminum cylinder that contained a sickly green liquid and a 6 inch fuse out one end. Ven stumbled out of the room but quickly righted himself.

"Cant be doing that ya hear? This here is special mix of explosive chemicals. Shake too much and BOOM" He slammed his fist down on the table to make emphasis.

Ven handed the cylinder to Loret and then took a swig from his bottle

"Are you sure you don't have something less...volatile? There is something behind the wall that I need to get to and I don't want to damage it in the process. I also would not want to damage the ship nor the structure of the cave." Loret said mildly amazed and slightly perplexed by the odd liquid explosive.

Chelsea heard Loret and someone else speaking. Hoping it was this Ven guy she walked over. Sure enough, Loret was talking to someone. Trying to avoid the water as much as possible Chelsea walked over.
"Are you Ven by any chance?" She asked tentativly.

He finished draining the bottle of its amber liquid and then belched.

"Nope" he replied.

He turned and hefted a very large wrench onto his shoulder and then picked up a half empty, dirty glass bottle off the workbench. The slowly started to suanter over to the main engine and started hitting seemly random spots on the construct. Several teeth shaking blows later and the mighty boiler rumbled to life. Steam vented out and billowed across the deck and creaks and moans sounded through out the ship as power was restored.

When the girl walked in Ven was sitting atop a massive steam pipe drinking.

"Now who is this?" He called out.

"So many new people. Shay has to be recruiting again" he thought

"I'm Chelsea. I'm new here. Well, obvs I'm new to the ship but I'm new to Dilusion too. Anyway, I was wondering what I could do to help." Cgelsea rambled slightly as she rested her hand on her hip and stood looking around the room.

"Alright, Thank you. I don't suppose you would happen to have something I could light it with then." Loret said as he walked over and carefully picked up the strange device.

Chelsea walked in shortly thereafter and began talking to the man so Loret decided he would wait while they talked and then see about a match or something.

I hope I don't blow up the whole cave with this thing...

Shay grinned.

"Well, power's back, eh, Bharat? Guess it's time ta move on."

Bharat nodded, and the walls started to heal themselves, as if by magic. He moved into the ship, and Shay followed as it began to take off, all the inhabitants inside.

"Ahoy!"

[Exit Ruined Mecca, Enter Avarice.]

(Oh, and if Loret wants to figure out what's going on with the cave he should probably jump.)

Seraph was just roaming around the ship looking for either Jack or Shay, mainly Shay he had some questions for him.
-Exit RUined Mecca, Enter Avarice-

Loret noticing that they were getting ready to depart quickly made his exit.

"Thank you very much Sir Ven and good luck on your quest Chelsea I will see you again soon!" He said on his way out.

Loret carefully secured the explosive making sure not to shake it too much and jumped ship.

The ship lifted off gracefully, flying off into the sky away from Loret.

Loret looks over as the ship passes away toward its destination. He waves and then turns back to his own work. He checks the explosive to make sure he still has it and then carries it over and places it a few feet from the cave wall.

"Now all I need is a way to light this..." He muttered to himself.

Loret went off to find a couple small rocks and began toiling to light the fuse.

As Loret jumpped Chelsea waved goodbye and tried to gain her balance as the ship took off. Chelsea stared wide eyed as the ship flew.
"This is so Surreal..." She muttered. "hope to see you again Loret. Thanks for saving me."

[Exit: Ruined Mecca, enter: Avarice]

A while later Loret was able to lit the fuse and then immediately ran off for cover. Hiding behind the remnants of a wall a ways away he crossed his fingers and placed his hands over his ears in anticipation of the explosion.

I hope this works... He thought to himself.

A short interval later there was a loud resounding "BOOM!" As the explosive did what explosives do...explode.

The rocks fell back, and lo and behold-

he saw a locked metal door.

A door with three scales jutting out from it.

Loret got up from his hiding place and upon seeing the door was hit by another memory. He knew he had been here before. He had seen those scales before. This door before...but he did not remember what it was for nor how or why he knew it. Reeling from this realization he walked closer to inspect the door and the scales in front of it.

(back in the thread the scales are described.)

(Exit Ruined Mecca Enter Avarice)

"A cloud, a water droplet, and stone...strange inscriptions...where have I seen this before..." Loret muttered to himself as he puzzled over this, he then pulled his book of stories out of his bag and flipped through it. He soon found a section on Q'alba and the stories he was looking for:

Loret awoke with a start as something clicked in his head. "!! Of course!! *he rummaged through his pack and retrieved his book and quickly flipped to the story* The offerings to the earth the sea and the sky!! The markers! Two are here in Northern Q'alba and one is in southern! The problem is finding them...well I know I will find them...I just have to get myself good and lost in the desert first! What is lost can truly only be found when you are just as lost! Traveling Minstrel rule number 17 how could I forget!" He exclaimed in elation

"...I made them up after all..." He muttered to himself

He then quickly packed up his things and began wandering out into the desert in search of the offering places therein.