Pirates; Road to El Dorado

Windstone

You sat in the library, reading and writing notes. Ryan and Josh sat beside you at the table. Felix searching the shelves for specific books. "I know you said the portal to Cool Ranch is broken, but what if we found another passage, perhaps a different skyway?" Felix hummed, bringing a book to the table. "That's not a bad thought." Josh spoke. Ryan nodded at him speaking up reclining in his chair. "Ol'Fish Eye mentioned , in a previous lesson, before efficient ship travel, desperados and pirates had to use wind stones to get anywhere." Ryan stated. "I've heard of those." You mumbled, flipping through the book. "Ah ha!" You spoke pointing at the text. Josh leaned over looking at the page. "Seems there's 7 known wind stones, and around 6 lost to time." He spoke reading the facts. "And look, The skull Island Skyway are the only ports that dont require a windstone." Felix stated. The 4 of you flipped through the book. "Skull Island, Monquista, and Valen—-" you began to read. "Valencia?!" Josh scoffed. "What's wrong with Valencia?" Felix questioned. "Those clueless rich, posers, they don't even care that the Armada runs their town." He rolled his eyes. Felix looked up from the book, "You're going to hate on a place rich with arts, and poetry, and knowledge of architecture, just bc of some clockworks?" He laughed at the ridiculous thought. Josh stood up, "Those clockworks, they all deserve to drop dead." He spat. Ryan grabbed his arm as he turned away. "Josh, it's deeper than that, what's up man? This isn't you." Ryan gently tried to calm him down. Josh let out a deep sigh. "Those clockworks killed my Mom." He mumbled. Felix covered his mouth, and your eyes widened, a soft frown resting on your face. "We aren't judging you on the clockworks, they have no emotions." You spoke. "It was when I was younger, Avery and Mordekai had found me on a raft, nothing but jonsey and I, he was just a cub, like me." He spoke looking down at the memory. "I'm sorry man, but hey, we can be your family now." Ryan patted Josh's back. "Now, not to interrupt this depressing and happy convo, but the windstone to Cool Ranch is in the library of contemplation at Royal Hall... in Valencia." Josh glared after the sentence. "Listen, we all don't have to go, we can have some stakeout the boat while we run in and grab it." Felix offered, placing a hand on Josh's shoulders. "Yeah, Kai and I could shadow dance, we sneak in, we sneak out." You spoke reassuring him. "Or I could just snipe em all and clear the way." Ryan joked. Felix rolled his eyes. "Right, that definitely won't cause a scene." He laughed. "I'll let Faith know, meet at the docks after sunset." You spoke. "And Ill tell Kai." Ryan
agreed.
"Funny, they text us that they're here, even thought we left seperate." Ryan laughed as you opened the scrimmage hall. You gazed as Kai charged as Faith jumped, dancing on his head leaping over him. You let out a laugh. "She's a literal acrobat." you spoke. "If you aren't sure where she is, check the air." Ryan joked. Ryan cupped his hands yelling, "Hey Lovebirds! Pause for some info! " Kai panted, "y'all saw her put her dirty boots on my head." He exclaimed. Faith rolled her eyes, "I'm practicing my battle floor plans, sometimes the ground has bombs you know." She gleamed crossing her arm. "Any way, what did y'all find at the library." She asked smiling. "Field trip to Valencia." Ryan spoke. Kai raised an eyebrow, "Josh is okay with that?" He questioned. "You know?" You asked. "He's my best friend, of course I Know." He spoke wiping off the sweat on his forehead. "We think it's best if we split up, have some watch the boat." Ryan interjected. "Oh yeah, we could just shadow dance-" you cut him off laughing rolling your eyes. "That's literally what I said." He smirked fist bumping you.

The sun was just setting, the 6 of us gathered at the docks. "We enter past the port we met Gortez, he has blockade access to Monquista, which we then travel down the skyway, entering Valencia's territory." You spoke pointing at the map Felix had scribbed so everything was physically visible in context. "Valencia is crawling with armada ships and clockworks cover the ports. We have to be stealthy, one wrong move and we'll either be left to rot in prison, or shot dead on sight." He spoke sternly with no emotion. "Not trying to brag, but my ships a bit bigger than Valencian ships, we'll stick out like a sore thumb." She spoke. "Well, there's a town in Blood Shoals, a massive trade route town, with a giant Inn that houses Ambassadors and merchant travelers carrying shipments from other Capital cities." Felix explained. "So we highjack a valencian ship?" Ryan raised an eyebrow smirking. "No, what is with you and aggression right now."Felix scoffed at him. "I'm saying, maybe we favor an ambassador.. and hitch a ride with them." He finished stating. You made a surprised face. Kai massively grinned. "And we walk in under travel jurisdiction." Kai gleamed. "Felix, sometimes you're pretty smart." Kai joked putting an arm around his shoulder. Felix rolled his eyes. "Well," josh began looking at the sky, "i think it's dark enough to head out."
You all took your places on the ship. Ryan sat in the crows nest being our eyes in the sky, you ran up the sails, they flapped in the night wind. Faith braced the wheel. Josh, Kai, and Felix at the desk plotting the route.