The port of Kaina is vast beyond anything any of them has seen before. Amadeo looks about with wonder at the various ships and boats in drydock undergoing repairs. "This is gonna be a trip. Where do we even start?"

"With the least expensive one of em." Hope points to a sloop about forty-five feet in length, with a grizzled old man sitting on the dock by it as he whittles away at a small wooden figure. As they approach, the old man looks up with one bulging eye, grinning with a crooked smile missing more than a few teeth. Hope steps forward as the man stands upright, towering over the devilkin. "Allo. You've come for the Reaper, haven't ye?" That bulging eye scans the four strangers.

Hope tries to maintain her voice at an even pitch as she speaks. "Y-Yes. How'd you know?" The man gestures to the other boats setting out with groups of people aboard who were listening to Kiriel's speech. "Everyone wants a piece of that beasty. Me too, for that matter." He pulls up one leg of his trousers, revealing that rather than a left foot in his boot, there is a wooden prosthetic that starts at the base of his knee. "I was his third victim. The beast took me wife and son, may the light bless em."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that...How much to charter your boat?" Hope reaches into her purse, and the old man waves a hand dismissively. "No charge. Kill that beasty, I might just pay you."

"Well, I mean...If you're sure." Hope stands up straight as the old man boards the little boat. "Come on, then. Can't be wasting daylight when there's a Reaper to hunt." The party follows him onto the sloop. It's a bit cramped with five people, but the old man shows them down to a cabin below the main deck. "Feel free to make use of it. We're gonna be traveling quite a ways before we get there."

He holds a hand out to Hope. "Name's Matthias. Matthias Grimm." She shakes his hand. "Hope. These are my companions Tyrion, Anna, and Amadeo."

Matthias looks over them, scratching his chin. "Odd bunch. Ye one of them adventuring parties, then, hm? Don't see drow and devilkin together often."

"We're just traveling together. It's been an interesting experience, to say the least." Tyrion says, nudging Hope. "Don't you need to get dressed and ready?"

She nods and disappears into the cabin, followed by Anna who assists her with getting the new armor on. Tyrion helps Matthias maneuver the boat out of port while Amadeo studies his spellbook. Matthias takes over fully when they get into the open ocean, piloting the sloop in a southeasterly direction.

Hope comes out of the cabin, examining herself in the new armor. The breastplate covers her torso from belly to shoulder, her arms left to hang freely. The etched fish and seashells along the frontal plate seem to shimmer as she stands at the railing beside Amadeo. "It's not half bad. Actually really breathable in this thing. It's lighter, and while it exposes my arms, the range of movement I get feels so much better compared to the chain mail. I really must thank you, Anna."

Anna nods, sitting down in the cabin and laying her head back. "Of course! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna take a nap before we reach our destination, conserve my energy out of the sun."

"Sure thing. I'll let you know when we get there." Hope quietly closes the door to the cabin to give her some time alone. "So, about this 'Reaper'. We know it's a big shark, but there wasn't much more info provided other than where it is."

Matthias nods. "Aye. It's a tough one that doesn't leave many survivors, and those who do escape remember mostly the flash of teeth and its black eyes. Lifeless eyes, like a doll's eyes. I saw firsthand what that thing can do, and even I don't remember much but..." He shakes his head. "Regardless, it's deadly as its number of victims can attest to. Being an aquatic beast, it's gonna be faster than you in the water, so don't bother trying to outrun it. If you're in the water with that thing, stand your ground so to speak and wallop it hard. Unless you can swim like a fish, your movement will be slowed, so most weaponry is out unless you're using a crossbow or a trident or something similarly fast moving."

"We've got that covered." Tyrion states, holding up his new crossbow with a grin. "I've got this puppy, Red here is tough as nails, and the other two are weavers."

"Just don't ask me to take the hit from a big fish and we'll be fine." Amadeo chuckles, inscribing new spells into his book.

Hope looks over his shoulder curiously. "How do you do that anyway? You just think up new spells or somethin?"

Amadeo shakes his head. "Not really. Most current spells are simply re-workings of the Swell, the energy that flows through the world around us. Magic just harnesses that energy and converts it to a new form. More powerful effects require more energy. What I'm doing is reaching out to the Swell and plucking prior knowledge left behind by my predecessors, then copying that knowledge down. Maybe one day, I can leave a spell behind for someone else as well."

"Why don't you just write all the spells down at once?" Tyrion points out.

"As I am now, I can't draw alot of energy in. It would be detrimental to my health to even try. But with experience comes knowledge. As we grow, my magical repertoire also increases. I just have to keep studying. Having spellbooks like this also helps." Amadeo holds up the book he bought. "I can copy spells I don't know into my book from these, so it pays to get them when I can. I can only keep a mental checklist of so many spells per day, though, so I also have to be careful to prepare what we may need. I imagine that Anna doesn't have that problem since the knowledge for her spells is granted by this Sola-Ret."

"Wow." Hope sits down across from the wizard. "I think that's the most you've ever talked at length about any subject in the last few days." Amadeo turns bright red and looks back at his book, hurriedly scribbling into it before flipping open the other spellbook. "Anyway! Not alot of stuff here, and most of it I already have." His eyes light up as he flips one page. "But it's well worth the five gold just for this. Now I just need an amulet."

Hope tilts her head quizzically. "What's the amulet for?" Amadeo looks up with a sly smirk. "Might be able to get Anna some protection from the sun after all. I just need an amulet and about four to five days of work."

Inside the cabin, Anna twitches and shifts, her head turning to catch the sound of a voice calling her name.