Water brushed against the docks, the scent of sea water wholly within the air. It was a nice change from that of the city streets of Hargeon, having been a point of frustration and the scents within the air being a stark contrast to that of what she was feeling now. To a degree, it may have just been her own preferences towards that of the sea. Vyra loved the docks. Always had. All the facets surrounding it, the scents, the sounds, the everything that was going on, it was a great thing to behold. And that it was able to take her mind away from that of the streets, of the people, of the shops, and everything of the like, to be further away from there, not just in body but also in mind was something that Vyra could always take some comfort and joy within.

But it did not change the fact that for as brief or lengthy as she may have wished for this to be have been,t his moment of time of sitting there upon one of the stone benches that lined along the pier, eventually that was going to be where she would have to return. There was no solace that could be taken within the pier, nor was there any chance that she could stow away upon the ships. She had tried that route before, and while it did come with some success, it was much of a gamble as anything. Her past attempt was one out of desperation; to simply depart for the hope of a slightly better option than what was laid before her, it seemed foolhardy.

275/2000

Her mind lingered a bit, wondering just what it was that she was going to do for the day. The life of a vagrant unfortunately did not lend a great deal of options as far as how one could end up spending their time. It was as much a case of finding something to eat, hoping to not be impeded whilst at the same time looking for a place to rest her head for the night. To her benefit though, it would end up not being as much of a challenge that there stood to be compared to others. While her appearance did not do much to lend towards that, she knew at least that there were some people who thought of her as attractive. Something that she could at least admit to herself was that to a degree some of the prosperity – if it were to even be called that – was attributed to her appearance.

It did lend a little bit of flexibility as far as how she were going to go ahead and deal with the day. More than likely it would not end up being much different than how things normally were, at least when all was said and done; her spending her time within one of the taverns in town, sitting back, listening to the stories told by the fishermen and others who had come in, some locals, others looking to get a few drinks before returning to sea. One or two of them may show her a little kindness and perhaps order her a drink, maybe even something to eat. That was more likely depending on things, and then depending on how the night played out, depending on how crazy it stood to get with the people around, maybe it would make it all the easier for Vyra to sneak away and find a nice place to sleep for the night undetected. Maybe an unoccupied room or something like that. Hell, even the idea of a closet of some sort wasn’t the worst idea.

614/2000

The sound of a ship pulling into the harbor took her mind off of what her night stood to bring. It was a larger ship than plenty of others that had arrived in pier of late, and she was not the only person that seemed to take notice of this. Multiple men, all of them seemingly armed and well-equipped with gear intended for fighting got to their feet, as though stirred by the arrival of this ship to come. Vyra watched with interest as the men all got into a loose formation around the pier, waiting for this ship, each of them turning towards one another making sure that everyone was on the same page as another.

The ship came closer and after a couple of words loudly shouted between one of the men on the ship and one of the armed men on the docks who had stepped forward, the typical formalities of the unloading of a ship began once again. The anchor was dropped, ladders and bridges embedded within the ship began to connect the vessel with the dock. Contents and materials of all varieties, packaged deeply within containers and crates tightly sealed, were issued out of the ship and led by the armed men towards a clear area of the dock. Not unusual or different than that of what Vyra had been witnessing for a bit, although the contents of the ship seemed a bit light compared to the size of the ship. She was hardly a sailor, nor did she claim to have any sort of experience with it, but she could tell that compared against some of the other ships that had come through earlier in the day, their cargo was far more in quantity than that of this one. And those were smaller ships too.

915/2000

The process of loading and unloading went on for a bit. Despite having a bit less cargo, it was clear that there was far more attention being paid towards it. It piqued Vyra’s interest, not just the added attention, but the entire process. For what at the surface appeared to be less cargo than other ships, warranting a small regiment of several guards as well to monitor the entire process, going as far as to actually take a brief look within the crates and containers as though looking for something within them, as well as just how long it was taking, it was obvious there was more to this.

A part of her was actually a bit interested in taking a better look, making seeing what was in those crates that warranted this. It was dumb of her, thinking that she would be able to just walk right up and get a chance to see what was there. Maybe flash a smile and hope that they would just say yes? The idea, as innocently as it played out in her head, was one that had her shaking it only a moment later. These were not drunken fools that could not tell their drink in their hands apart from several at the bar, but instead soldiers, mercenaries, that were very clearly here for an actual purpose. That Vyra would be able to charm her way into what they were protecting or otherwise convince them to allow her through, although ambitious, was foolhardy.

1166/2000

She began to think of an excuse that she could make to rationalize her getting closer and closer to the cargo. She wasn’t a stranger either. She had been at the docks for quite a bit now. No doubt that her presence had been registered by the guards there; the rare instance when the beauty and attractive qualities that she would have sought to use for herself actually going ahead and becoming more of a detriment. Vyra hadn’t quite come to that realization before a couple of loud voices forced her to seek poor coverage behind an empty crate that had been left nearby, close enough that she could hear the conversation and even look out to get a glimpse at just who was talking.

One of the larger guards, the one who had taken the command when talking to the person on the ship was speaking with another man, dressed in rather official-looking clothing. He wasn’t a ship captain or anyone who worked on the ship by the look of it, but rather instead like some of the fancier people that she every so often had gotten a glimpse of within Hargeon.

“Cargo secure?” He asked, his voice raspy, the scent and smell of the docks clearly affecting him.

The guard knocked against one of the crates, still sealed. “Tis here. Don’t know why it’s so important.”

The official sighed with a hint of disdain and disgust in his voice. “That, is not your business. Just make sure everything is here.” Saying nothing more and not bothering to hear anything further, the man departed back towards the inner parts of the city. The guard murmured some sort of insulting slur at the man, just loud enough so that even Vyra could not quite hear it entirely.

1463/2000

Some more time passed, and Vyra, not even willing to risk angering these guards by getting close or trying to get a look at the actual contents of the items, simply returned to where she had been resting earlier and watched more ships come through. None that were terribly impressive, nor any that really had her motivated to get up and look. The excitement for the day had been pretty much spent with the events that took place earlier.

Sounds of a ship coming into the dock quick drew her attention, or more appropriately, the sounds of the guards reacting in such an aggressive and stunned manner drew her attention. Quickly they scrambled along the docks as a ship, smaller than the large one that arrived earlier but still a bit larger than some of the other merchant ships arrived. Vyra watched the scene play out, the ship quickly dock within the port of Hargeon, multiple occupants immediately rushing out of the ship, far more than what perhaps she or anyone that weren’t these guards were expecting. Maybe a dozen or so people in total that came from the ship, a collection of weapons all in their possession, all making a straight shot towards the guarded cargo.

1670/2000

There were only a few of the guards, but it was plenty enough for them to be able to sufficiently hold back the greater brunt of the attack. However, their fewer numbers left little to deal with those who were scurrying around the other side of the pier, hoping to sneak away and secure one or two of the cargo hauls without anyone noticing. And it worked, surprisingly enough. Vyra watched as a pair of these pirates ripped through the wooden exterior of one of the crates, plucking from it a small vase, just barely larger than something that could fit into her hands.

The two men began to sneak through back to their ship in the same manner as what they had done before, but in their hopes of not drawing the attention of the guards who were now handily dealing with the rest of the pirates, they failed to notice Vyra who had made little effort to be stealthy, but instead simply walked towards the pirate’s ship, having arrived much sooner than the two thieves had, having allowed her with enough time to notice some of the other items that were there on the ship, including a number of bottles of rum, to which gave Vyra an idea that she had once heard about from someone in a tavern.

1891/2000

The fighting was steadily going the way of the guards who had been defending the pier. One or two of them perhaps had fallen from the vantage given, but otherwise it was very clear that they were going to be the victors when all was said and done. In all likelihood, it was going to be just the two who had taken the contents of the crate that were going to get out of this attack with their lives; but they had been so gleefully engrossed in their theft of the small vase that they failed to notice what Vyra had done. Having dipped a handful of rags into the bottles of alcohol and setting them ablaze, she had gone ahead and set much of the ship ablaze, this by some miracle being completely lost upon the two thieves.

Once they had realized it, they quickly disregarded the small vase and turned their attention towards setting out the fires, a task that quickly they realized to be impossible. Vyra had had the time to ignite multiple of these makeshift bombs, and even under the best of circumstances, the two men may have been able to extinguish one, but not multiple of them. The two continually scurried through the ship, trying to think of something to do, yet were so fixated in this circular line of thinking that they had further still failed to notice Vyra, who had quickly gone to where they were, simply picking up the small vase, and then departing the ship as simply as that.

Eventually they did notice, though only once the ship had begun to sink from the damage caused. The two men yelled out at Vyra, who simply ignored them, their cries being lost amongst all the commotion, the bells signifying the local guards to come address the situation. And as they flooded into the pier to provide assistance to the guards who had been stationed there already, Vyra quickly pocketed the lone item from the vial, a decently-sized emerald that had been wrapped in a few layers of cloth as to ensure no scratches came against the gem’s surface. She had tried to subtly toss out the small vase in the water as some more guards rushed onto the pier in an effort to escort everyone out, Vyra included. If there was any doubt or suspicion towards Vyra that she may have been involved, they did not show it, and as the guard ushered her to the safety of the docks, she smiled as she felt the gem bouncing within the small pouch beside her.

2323/2000