The Faceless - RP

[Moosetroop11]

Hackett glanced around and then, quickly and inconspicuously, he pulled out his notebook and scribbled some words in the back pages. The notebook was new, and this was the beginnings of the first entry; if enemy vessels were between the ships and the shore then they were clearly not still engaged in battling the first wave. They are prepared for reinforcements and expect them.

The information Hackett managed to gather here, if brought back, would be invaluable to the full second wave, dictating which strategy they took. The weight of his responsibility struck him quite suddenly and for a moment, he was unaware of the swaying of the ship, the nervous chatter of the soldiers. Then, suddenly, he awoke. Stuffing the notbook into a pocket, he jogged after John. The first sign of news would be on deck and he wanted to be in the thick of it.

[Prpl_Mage]

Elias remained still all the time. He'd expected something like this all along, that's why he wanted to catch Pack in the first place.

"Well, I guess I better grabb the stuff as well huh?" Elias said as he cought up with reality.

He leaned his head over at Pack who nodded in reply.
"Anything can happen, that's why I keep this bag right here."

"Well then, I'll excuse myself and head over to the quarters." He announced and stood up.
"Better get the bag before the ship sinks." He mumbled and grinned. "Like that would happen" He thought to himself as he made his way out of the room. Pack getting to his feet to follow him, it was better to make sure that they had everything under control anyway.

"Let me know if you want a new partner John" He called as he saw the two of them walk of in the distance.

[Dragonium]

Upon reaching his quarters, John strode over to his bunk and leaned over to where his musket hung by a strap at the foot of the bed. In doing so he disturbed his knapsack, and a few sheets of paper and envelopes fluttered out onto the floor. He'd been meaning to write back to Melinda once they were on land, but it didn't look like that would be for a while. He folded a couple of sheets and an envelope into his pocket - once they landed it would be his first priority. He took up his musket and powder satchel, raising it to his shoulder to test his eye. He was no crack shot with the musket, nor did he know how the whole thing worked, but he'd used it long enough to be experienced and comfortable with it. He could hit a target from a safe distance, and that was all that mattered.

He sighed. The entire reason he'd taken up the musket was to keep himself out of trouble. If he could stay behind the front lines, he'd be more likely to be one of the lucky ones, and he'd be going home to his family rightly enough. He felt a slight pang of guilt that the other brave men, no lesser men than he, would be thoughtlessly cut down while he knelt behind them firing into the enemy at his own pace. Still, he'd have to put up with it.

Hackett came in and called out, quickly ducking back at the sight of John wheeling round with his musket raised. After a moment, both broke into laughter. "Little on edge", Hackett chuckled.

John nodded. "Aren't we all". Hackett gathered his equipment, and both filed up the stairs onto deck.

The fog had thickened somewhat. It was difficult to see anything at all, but duty called, and both men set about watching for beacons in the distance. Time passed slowly in an uneasy silence.

[Fortet]

Alex followed Elias to the quarters. Men passed by them - some were angry, some were worried, and more were in between. This was big news after all, so who could really blame them. Alex had figured out a long time ago that different people deal with stress in different ways. He himself was a bit worried. Like he had said before, anything can happen.

"So, Elias, what do you think might happen now? I mean, it could be a variety of happenings, but what do you think MacLellan is gonna' do?" A bit of worry was beginning to show in Alex's eyes. He could mask any emotion except worry.

[Prpl_Mage]

Elias grabbed his backpack from the bed. It was already packed, safest that way.

"It sounds to me that he wants us to remain here for now." He answered to Pack's question while making sure that the straps was secured.
"A bit like sitting ducks I guess if our enemy really does know where we are." He continued and turned his head in Alex's direction. He was done, everything was there.

"That's not the best of plans." Alex answered with a sound of anxiety.

"It may not be... But I'm afraid we are out of options at the moment. To continue without recieving words from the other parts of the wave would be truly unwise." He said, certain that he was correct.
"And our enemies would need an impossible large force to beat us on our own ship. So we are safe for now, but as the commander said: better be on our guards.

Pack nodded in the reply and went over to his own stuff, Elias leaned against the wall and waited for his med-partner to get things packed.  As long as they kept their calm; everything would go fine no matter what happened. But by the sight of the crew. This could just get tough.

[Dragonium]

Time passed. There was almost dead silence on the sea, broken only by the occasional cough from John or Hackett, and a low, ominous murmuring sound over the water's surface, what sailors would call a "brool". John fell almost into a daydream; due to the rolling of the mist and the calmness of the water, his vision would come and go, and there was very little to see. Little sparkles would flicker in front of his eyes, and he would have to shake his head and focus his thoughts to regain clear vision.

Presently he shook his head again, and started. One of those tiny lights was brighter than the others, and was not dispelled by his efforts. He strained to see - he was sure it was permanent. Out over the bough, several hundred yards away through the fog, was a dim flicker of orange light, only just visible. John leaned over to see it better, and as he did he spoke quietly.

"Hackett", he began, "Tell me you can see that and it's not just my eyes".

Hackett sauntered over, probably glad of something to do, and started. "Yeah", he mumbled, "I can see that. I'll go and fetch MacLellan".

A few minutes passed, with John keeping his eyes fixed on the flickering will-o-wisp in the distance. It seemed almost as though it were sinking slightly, or perhaps moving further away. There was a flurry of footsteps and MacLellan stormed onto the deck, accompanied by Hackett and a few soldiers who had been bold enough to follow. "Gods", MacLellan whispered, "There is life out here after all". He raised an arm and gave some sort of signal, and the ship began to turn, and move in the direction of the light. The deck began to fill up, with many soldiers coming to see what the fuss was about.

There was a general murmur of quiet anticipation, as the ship drew closer and the mist began to clear. At last something large and oddly-shaped came into view; the dancing light became clearer; and a ripple of silent shock spread through the congregation.

Out in the water, apparently having been split completely down the middle, and with her entire front half protruding into the air, was the wreck of one of the earlier second wave ships, its beacon still futilely flickering on the bow.