Rhys woke up reasonably early the next day and mentally prepared himself for the day ahead. He had a lot planned, and he was still a little shaken by the close encounter with the pirates. A few more minutes, and they would have been close enough to board the Endeavour or risk a sharpshooter taking him out. It made him a little sick to think about it. The high from finding that cache had chased away his darker thoughts at first, but he'd woken up in a cold sweat at least twice last night.

A cold shiver went down Rhys's back as he pulled his jacket tight and disembarked from the Endeavour. He'd survived. That was what mattered at the end of the day. Now, it was time to get this cargo offloaded and see about a new job and some crew. Maybe keeping busy would help take his mind off things.

Heading to the captain's guild, Rhys showed his receipt to an official and booked in the cargo to be offloaded in the morning. He took the two sovereign payment straight away, on the understanding that if the cargo was missing bits, he'd have to pay some parts back.

Adding the two new coins to his purse, Rhys headed over to the job board and eyed what was available. There were a few bulk shipment requests that he could try and do, but he was dubious if they would fit in the hold of the Endeavour.

He hadn't actually filled the cargo hold up to capacity yet, so he was working off a vague idea of how much it could take. For all he knew, he might be well off, especially with the structural changes that Zaxx had done. He'd need to actually measure it up at some point, but he was putting it off for as long as he could.

More interestingly, there was a request for a replacement ship to send a pre-paid consignment of processed ironwood planks to Arn Dukatt. The notice said that the previous ship had gone missing, so the shipment was sat waiting for transportation.

It was only a half-sovereign in payment, and Arn Dukatt was three days away. Still, the notice said that the sender was willing to do a deal on some of their other stock as an incentive. With the need for more material ever-present in his mind, Rhys took down the shop's address to visit. He'd go see what these other goods would be and judge the contract from there.

With a job potentially sorted, he turned to the crew side of things. There was a list of people looking for a berth, same as there had been in Arn Bolear. Rhys took his time looking it over, trying to see something that jumped out at him. Each name came with a list of skills and an expectation of pay.

The average crewman wanted five bits a day on top of their berth, with the more skilled crew coming in at ten or fifteen bits per day. While they weren't high rates of pay, they would be housed on the Endeavour with no need to pay for food and accommodation.

A few names and skills caught his eye, so Rhys turned to the official at the desk where the crew lists were on display.

'Excuse me, I was looking to hire some crew, but this is a new process to me. Could you let me know how it works?'

'Of course,' the man gave Rhys a warm smile. Turning to the board, he gestured to the list Rhys was standing in front of. 'You can tell me who you're looking at and hire them straight away, or we can contact them and bring them in for a discussion. If you then want to hire them, that's down to the two of you.'

'I see, and is there a cost to me for hiring through the Guild?' Rhys asked, keen to make sure he wasn't throwing money away for no reason.

'No, none at all. The crew members pay a single bit to put their add up, and it lasts for a month before they need to renew it. Was there anyone you had an eye on?' The official pulled out a pen and paper, ready to take notes if needed.

'Yes, these four,' Rhys tapped against each name in turn, the official noting them down on his pad.

'Not a problem, can I take your guild number and the name of the ship, please? Also, would you like to meet them here or on your ship? We have private rooms that can be used here if needed.' The official said while he wrote down the number on the rear of Rhys's medallion, talking with the ease of someone saying something for the thousandth time.

'Here, please, tomorrow late morning if that's possible?' Rhys asked, thinking about how long the workers would need to be able to unload the Endeavour.

'That will be down to them, but I'll get a message to each of them in the next few hours. Any other candidates you have in mind?' The official cocked his head at Rhys before putting the paper away when Rhys shook his head.

'No, that's all for now. Thank you for the help.' Rhys smiled at the man before he headed back out of the guild.

The shop that had posted on the job board was around an hour further into the spire from the directions on the notice. It was vaguely in the area that Rhys had been to before, so he followed his feet in that direction.

Now that he was a little more relaxed, Rhys found himself looking at the second tier of the spire where it sat up above them. The tiers were natural occurrences of the spire, so only the edges were supported by ironwood struts. It was fascinating to look at, and Rhys almost walked into a few people doing so. After the third near-miss, he stopped staring and focused on where he was going, resolving to look closer another time.

Eventually, he came to the same eatery he'd visited before. He remembered how nice their food was and decided to stop for lunch, ordering a skraa steak with greens and herbal tea.

Vegetables and fruit were always at a premium. They competed with space for growing ironwood, so it was only logical. Still, a place as busy as Arn Gol would have good availability, even without growing them directly. In fact, he'd likely brought back a lot of fresh produce with him.

It amused him to think that if he came back here in a few days, he might very well be eating the very items he'd carried here from Arn Bolear.

The steak was seared to perfection, and the leafy salad that it came with was nicely crisp and fresh. In reality, it was merely average, but it was different enough from the food Rhys had on the ship that he enjoyed it anyway. The herbal tea was something he had on a more regular basis. It was easy enough to take dried herbs on the ship with him, so he stored away a reasonable amount for when the mood took him.

With his mind on foodstuffs, Rhys realised he had all the supplies from the cache that he'd raided. They could keep them, sell them for cold, hard cash, or he could feed them to Zaxx. That was if Zaxx would even benefit from them.

'Shame I can't talk to you out here, Zaxx,' Rhys said under his breath. It would be good to know so he could sell them now if needed.

'Why wouldn't you be able to talk to me off the ship? The bond we have from our pact transcends minor things like spatial distance from one another. We share the same reality. Anything more specific than that is pointless.' Zaxx said in an affronted tone.

'Damn it, don't make me jump like that,' Rhys said in a hoarse whisper, glaring in the rough direction of the Endeavour. Sighing, he carried on to the shop that had posted the job. 'Why haven't you spoken to me outside the ship before then?'

Rhys made sure to only speak when there weren't people nearby and kept his voice low. He didn't want to come off as a crazy man talking to himself, not that it was that far from the truth.

'Our bond has been strengthened over time by acting to the benefit of the pact. The upgrades to the Endeavour specifically have given me a stable foothold in this reality as it was your choice to perform them. Before, I could only tell if you were directly projecting to me. Now, the pact allows me to be aware of anything you say that is directed at me, and likewise for anything I wish to communicate to you.'

'Oh, okay, so you can just hear my words when I want you to?' Rhys relaxed a little as he realised that Zaxx wasn't monitoring his thoughts.

'A simplistic summary, but not an invalid one. Now, what did you wish to ask me?'

'The loot from the cache, all the bits that are left in the cargo hold anyway, could you absorb those and put them to use?'

'The foodstuffs and clothing could be absorbed, but the benefits would be minor.'

'Right, move the foodstuffs to the galley then, and the clothing to a spare room. We'll keep them for future members of the crew.'

'Done.' Zaxx's whisper was only a few moments after Rhys finished speaking. The speed with which he could do things like that was always impressive to Rhys. He'd given it some fort previously when they were taking on cargo. It seemed to be almost solely based on how much mass something had rather than what it was made of.

Bringing his attention back to the task at hand, Rhys walked further up the street, eventually reaching the business he was after. Kraus And Sons was a nice-looking building with a well-maintained look, and a sign outside that displayed a family crest. The crest was a quallis in mid-flight, its four wings outstretched. Rhys had only seen a quallis once or twice from a distance, but he could tell that the artist had done the creature justice with their detailed work on the bright feathers of the creature.

Opening the door and stepping inside, Rhys found himself in a nicely laid out shop. He could see several discreet sections: one for clothing and apparel, one for food and consumables, one for ship supplies and one for trade goods.

Rhys's gaze tracked straight to the ship supplies and the akast crystal that was there. He was a little disappointed at first. There was only a small closed box on display, though it was filled with crystal to the brim. The lid was polished cloud quartz, so Rhys could see the crystal inside with ease.

Moving closer, Rhys realised that there it was the same for everything. They only displayed a single item of each category. Next to the items were placards with a list of prices detailing costs for the items in question.

Briefly excited, Rhys was soon disappointed once more as he realised that they didn't offer a bulk discount for the akast crystal. Still, he would be able to buy dried rations in bulk here, and the prices looked a little better than the Captain's Guild. Of course, that also meant he didn't get Guild protection on what he bought.

Completely distracted, Rhys got caught up looking over what was available. He even saw a door at the rear of the shop with an upper panel made from more polished cloud quartz. He could see what looked like weapons on the other side, but the door was firmly closed, so Rhys didn't investigate any further for the moment.

'Welcome to the Kraus and Sons. Can I help you at all?' Rhys was studying a few of the artificed devices on display when a voice came from the side.

Turning to look, he found himself facing a somewhat portly and bald but well-dressed man with a groomed moustache and twinkling dark eyes. The maroon coloured waistcoat that he wore was of fine make and had been tailored to his frame. Rhys shuddered internally at how much it would cost for such a thing.

'Ah, hello, I'm here regarding the notice in the Captain's Guild. A shipment of ironwood lumber, I believe?' Rhys gave his most confident smile but was already intimidated by the wealth on display.

'Ahh, good, I was getting concerned that no one would take us up on that job,' the man said, giving Rhys a gleaming smile as he held his hand out. 'I am Otto Kraus, a descendant of the original Otto Kraus, founder of Kraus And Sons. I'm the owner of this branch. It is a pleasure to meet you.'

'Rhys Hunt, Captain of the Endeavour, a pleasure to meet you as well,' Rhys took his hand and gave it a firm shake. Otto had a firm grip that matched the confident aura he gave off, a consummate businessman.

'Well then, Captain Hunt, please join me in my office,' Otto said, flashing Rhys a broad smile once more before heading back to the rear of the store.

Rhys followed along as Otto led the way through a corridor to an office with several leather chairs. Skraa leather was valuable and exceptionally comfortable, so Rhys quickly took his seat and enjoyed the sensation. He doubted he'd be in a skraa leather chair again any time soon, so he would make the most of it right now.

'Now then, Captain Hunt. The pay is half a sovereign to transport six pallets of lumber to Arn Dukatt, which is about two days away. I do realise that such pay doesn't cover much of anything. However, as the advert mentioned, I'm willing to negotiate other perks.' Otto said to Rhys as the portly businessman took a seat behind the desk.

'Yes, it mentioned making some purchases at a discounted rate,' Rhys said, he tried to give off as professional an appearance as he could, but this all made him very nervous. On the walk over, he'd considered what he would say to excuse his desire for more crystals. He'd decided he needed to give some form of reasoning, or it would invite far too much attention.

'Of course, first of all, what class of ship is the Endeavour?' Otto asked, pulling out a large book that was bound in leather. So much paper in one place was still impressive to Rhys. He doubted that many people in Arn Creth would have such easy access to a book like this. Libraries were the main source of books for people like Rhys, and even then, if they didn't treat the books with respect, they were banned.

'Loggerhead Class,' Rhys said after a moment of thought. Of course, it wasn't really a loggerhead, not anymore. Still, the general information would be close to correct.

Otto nodded at his words and flipped through the book before pausing at a page. 'Hmm, good capacity for the size, with decent efficiency but slow engines. Are you looking for any upgrades to that?' Otto asked, his eyes still on the book as he read further.

'Ah, not right now,' Rhys said, licking his lips as he committed to his excuse of choice. 'The Endeavour has actually been fitted with an experimental engine, one that can be upgraded over time. In the short term, however, it has a higher consumption of crystals, so I'm looking for a good deal on those.'

'I see,' Otto said, leaning back in his chair and crossing one leg over his knee. 'We can certainly look at that. Would you be able to share the details of this experimental engine?'

'No, I'm contracted not to,' Rhys said, completely honestly. The fact that it was an eldritch entity of unknown origin that the contract was with was neither here nor there.

'Interesting. Well, I can offer a ten percent discount for up to ten sovereigns in value, but that's all. If we do more business together, we can look at future deals as well. How does that sound?'

Rhys would save a single sovereign if he spent ten, which would bring his potential savings and pay to less than two sovereigns combined. It wasn't a great deal, but it wasn't terrible either. He also couldn't buy all ten and then use them up. Otto would no doubt notice that straight away when Rhys bought more.

'I'll take the half-sovereign as credit and buy five sovereigns worth for four sovereigns. If you also throw in a week's supply of food and a container of dried herbs for tea.' Rhys made his counter-offer, trying to keep things reasonable but also get a little more out of the merchant.

'Ha, I like it,' Otto said, clapping his hands together and grinning at Rhys. 'It's a deal.'

Reaching out and shaking Otto's hand, Rhys returned his grin with interest. He was still getting underpaid, but goodwill with Otto was worth what was left.