Welcome to Gaia! ::

Riley regained his composure, slightly embarrassed at how badly he handled that. Shaking his head, he gave the area a once over. There was the ladder that led down, perhaps to the cargo hold, perhaps to salvation the way of fighters or weapons, or to more of those...things.
Or there was the gate. They could abandon the whole affair...but then all the planning, from the cash for the inn to the observation, would be for naught.
"So...do we flee, or do we check below?" he asked.

Riley nodded, finding an old shirt on the ground. "Below it is." he said, picking up the shirt.
Going over to the table, he kicked it over, and hacked off all four legs. He tore up the shirt, tied them tightly on the table legs, and looked around for something useful to soak them in.
As luck would have it, there was a bucket of pitch in the back of the hull. He soaked the four torches in them, and lit two with the matches, then handed one to Jessica.
"Be careful, though it goes without saying." he said simply, heading to the ladder.

[I just clued into the fact that we are putting up a ton of posts and no one else has in a while xD]
----
Riley tilted the torch down, then ignored the ladder and jumped down.
Landing hard on a bag.
He got up, stiff, and annoyed. They where in a cargo hold alright.
There where a few chests, bags, and an odd smell of...
Food.
He looked back and the bag, and a rip that his knife had cause when he landed. Out of the rip was coming potato guts.
"We hit the jackpot, if somewhere in the world is having a potato shortage." he said with a grin.

[Lawl, for some reason, when I wrote that potato line, a scene from my favorite movie, Top Secret, popped into my head. I'll explain if you want xD]
----
"Well, then I might retire rich, if I can find it." Riley joked again, looking around.
There seemed to be a LOT of meat in one corner of the room. All salted and in barrels, but a lot just the same.
Food for whatever was above, he assumed.
He popped open another chest, stepped back, and took a good look inside.
Gold.
Not a lot of it, about 4 bars, but it was gold. "Check this out." he said, pointing with the unlit torch.

"Yeah..." Riley said absently, picking up a pair of burlap bags.
Opening them, he found them to contain nothing. He took two of the bars, stuffed them in one bag, then the other two in the other, and held them in the same hand as the torch, looking around.
"I wonder what other loot is hanging around in here..." he wondered out loud, turning around slowly to look around.

Riley was about to speak when he heard footsteps on the deck above.
Way above.
He motioned for her to be quiet. He heard a metallic scraping noise, then footsteps going down to the deck with that...thing.
Then to the ladder.
'Down!' he mouthed, grabbing her arm rather brusquely and pulling her down fast. He hid under a pile of junk, closing the chest silently and just in time.
A guard climbed down into the hold right as he heard more steps above.
"I found it!" the guard yelled, and there was muffled yells of approval above. The guard picked up a cask of port, hauled it up to the others, then another, and then climbed out.
Riley waited for dead silence before coming out.
[Edit: Im out for a bit, be back later]

Shallow Focus
"This storm is uncommon," she mentioned quietly. She could feel that something was different. The way the storm came on and how it was currently looming was unsettling to her, though shew as trying her best to not show it. The pair was now walking through the markets, near the docks. She felt her gaze being drawn to the sight of the ship from earlier. The images still plagued her mind, causing her to shiver again. She wasn't really good with dealing with death.

With a loud inhale, she looked up at the sky. "I was born here," she said simply and shrugged her shoulders slightly. Looking over at him, she continued, "It's a nice place though. I've never wanted to leave." He looked like a wanderer, that's for sure. She liked the stability of staying in this town - even though she could never guarantee where she'd sleep next.

Looking back at the ship, the prospect of money and riches was appealing to her. "Do you want to take a slight detour?" she asked quietly. The companionship gave her renewed courage.

Berry chan and DemonDays
In the far corner sat a pedestal, and on it a small orb, the appeared much like a large marble. Barely noticeable in the dark of the cargo hold, it sparkled with a strange and dim light randomly. To the left and right sides of the pedestal stood two short statues, one of a man and one of a woman. Their hands were clasped above the pedestal. An inscription was written on stone inlaid into the pedastal:

Those who seek power shall find it.
Those who have wishes will see them granted.
Embrace it, and it shall be yours.

It mentioned nothing of the consequences...
The ship began to rock, agitated by the waves.

Nightwind-Dragon
The storm around the ship seemed to be picking up. Water crashed against the edge of the ship, sometimes splashing up onto the deck. Looking around, it would be easy to see that this was the only location where the water was so agitated and sky so dark. A light rain began to fall.