Cog in the Wheel

Cole awoke on board the ship in his room. He had been reading over a few books over the past few days, and was ready to get off the ship for a while. Standing up on the wooden floor of his room he had laid a massive fur rug in the center of it. Even though they were mostly in warmer climates it was still a cold floor to wake up to, and now that they were in the colder area he was extremely happy about it. Walking over and grabbing his shirt that he had picked up in one of the villages they had made a stop in on the way up here, and sliding it on he felt warmer as the cotton covered his body stopping the warmth from leaving him. Grabbing a bottle off of his dresser and taking a swig letting the burn run down his throat and settle in his belly granting him a warmth that he hadn’t had before. Walking over the bottle still in hand he would open the door and walk out locking the door behind him. He knew that it wouldn’t stop anyone on this ship from getting in but it was part of the code. The members of this crew lived by a code and part of that code was not to steal anything from each other. Walking down the hallway looking out of the windows as he made his way up to the deck of the ship.

Stepping out onto the deck the skeleton crew was walking around doing standard stuff. Cole didn’t give them much attention, as he took another swig from his bottle letting the warmth flow through him once more. He could see the port coming into view and knew that it would only be a matter of time before they were on land once more. He had been given the job of ship medic and for that reason he had been reading more than he normally had in the past. He had done it before but was never an actual medic before. With some even telling him that he was a natural to it, Cole had never really given it much thought, however, now he was having to. Since no one else on the ship had any experience in the field it made him the expert among his allies. Walking over while his mind rolled through his thoughts while taking another sip of his bottle. Cole opened one of the barrels near the edge of the front of the ship and pulled out another bottle with a strap on it and threw it over his shoulder securing it to him. Before walking over to where the ramp would be let down. He took a seat and waited for the ship to come to a stop and the skeleton crew to let the ramp down. Letting his body get used to the temperature of the area before he headed out.

Once the skeleton let the ramp down Cole walked off of the ship down the ramp. Only stumbling once or twice on his way down. There were a few people that were waiting around to see who was going to get off of the ship. After all the dreadnought was a magnificent ship that outshined most others on the seas. However, the people did not expect to see a man stumbling down the ramp with a bottle of rum in his hand, and another one strapped to his back. All the while not looking like he had too much money to spend either. It only took one look at Cole and the rest of the people started to turn around and walk away. That is all but one a young man with noble clothes kept staring at Cole as he walked away from the ship. Cole noticed the man, and figured that the man recognized the ship or something. He kept walking over looking to find a tavern of some kind to pass the time till the others were ready to get done what they came here to do.

“Let me buy you a drink” the man said as he walked over to Cole who was making his way to the closest tavern. Cole looked the man over and noticed the clothes of finery made with materials that would keep him warm with the fewest layers of clothes while maintaining his noble look. Cole simply gave the man a nod thinking that it was not in him to turn down a free drink, and if he was lucky this guy would be buying top shelf. The man led Cole into another tavern in the opposite direction that Cole was originally going. Stepping into the tavern Cole noticed that it was a step up from his normal hangout location. Mostly due to the lack of shady people sitting in the corners talking about death, and big jobs that tended to involve people like he was walking with right now as the mark. With floors of hard wood, a finely finished bar with a nicely dressed bartender, and barmaids Cole knew that he was out of place. Following the man over to one of the tables in the corner and sitting down across from him the barmaid walked over and asked if they needed anything. To which the man replied telling her to bring something that Cole hadn’t even heard of before, what he did know was that it was not Saki or Rum, as he was pretty confident he had drunk most of those or at least heard of them. “My name is Renji” he said to which Cole knew immediately that it was not his real name, but so be it he didn’t really care what the man wanted to be called as long as the liquor kept flowing he was fine with sitting here. “I saw the ship and I’ve seen people on ships like that and they tend to be quite powerful, and I am in need of a powerful shinobi.” The men came to a stop as the barmaid returned with their drinks. Cole took a sip only to be slightly disappointed. It was something sweet and tangy, and he was not a fan of it.

“Who do you need to die?” Cole would ask the man, being blunt and breaking the niceties as he pushed the glass away from him. The man was shocked for a second at the bluntness that Cole demonstrated with a stranger. “Look I don’t have time or the need to play the niceties. At any point I can be back on the ship and we can be headed to the next port, and they only think pointing that I was here would be your corpse, so spit it out” Cole would tell the man managing not to slur a single time. The man stood up straight at the threat you, not a drunk are you he would ask Cole. “All I do is drink, but I have not been drunk in a long time” Cole would tell the man leaning back into the chair. The drink may have been bad but the setting was amazing. The man would go on to tell Cole that there was a group of missing nin like himself that was moving into the area, and that everywhere they went they simply used up the resources of the area and moved on leaving behind a waste land in their wake. “Very well I’ll deal with it, but when I get back I'm expecting something better to drink, and a purse full of cash” Cole would tell the man before standing up and walking out of the tavern. The man stood up with him and bowed as Cole walked away and exited the tavern.

Back out in the cold from the warmth of the tavern Cole made his way out of the small village in the direction that the man had mentioned the group was in. He had agreed to this job and in doing so he would get it done. Cole didn’t know if it was a bad thing or not, but once he agreed to do something he would do it, even if it meant he would die in the process. For all the things that people might call him he didn’t care, but the one thing he would not be called is someone who didn’t keep their word. Making his way towards the mountain pass where the group of missing nin was supposed to be camping out till they gathered up their strength to move into this town. Cole realized that it was way too cold here to want to live in this land. Pulling his Kimono a little tighter around his cotton shirt as he kept making his way. Taking a sip of the bottle on his back every now and then as he made his way. The snow is getting a little thicker and deeper with every step. He was starting to wonder just why he agreed to take on this job, and then remembered that he had a drinking problem and it was not cheap.

Once he had made it close to the area that he was supposed to find the group of missing nin. He heard something in the distance, someone grunting like they were bending down and caring stuff. He had gotten lucky and at least one of them was out gathering some firewood. Getting down low to the ground and blending in with the snow due to his mostly white outfit and hair. Cole snuck up on the man, katana in hand, and upon closing the distance he stuck the katana into the man's throat stopping him from screaming in pain as he fell to the snow. Swinging his katana splashing blood into the snow as he cleaned the blade. Staying low to the ground as he approached the camp Cole kept his katana in hand just on the off chance that he was found out. Getting to the top of the snow bank that overlooked the group of mercenaries. He could see that they were all gathered around a fire totalling six mercenaries, and looking to be a scouting party.

Cole saw that they were not very heavily armed and only had two tents near the fire, but a safe distance away to not get caught on fire by it. Meaning that they were sleeping three men in a tent. When one of them that just picked up a bottle asked what was taking Fin so long, and another responded saying he had probably passed out in the snow and would be joining them later. It wasn’t long after that they all went and laid down in the tents with the fire still blazing. Cole waited for another half an hour to make sure they were all good and asleep. Before he made his way down into the camp sneaking up on the backside of the tent to make sure that his shadow didn’t give him away due to the fire that was still going. Taking his kunai and cutting a slit into the back of the tent before stepping in. There were three men laying passed out drunk on the ground covered in different blankets and laying on several piled up on the ground. Cole pulled out another kunai and slid each kunai into the throat of the two closet men at the same time. Thanks to his reading in the medical field he knew where to stab now to keep them from being able to make any noise by cutting through their vocal cords. Both struggled for a few moments before losing their strength and only being able to simply lay there until they bleed out. Cole made it to the last guy in the tent and repeated the process.

Walking back out of the tent through the slit he had made Cole went over to the other tent. Slicing into it as well he dropped the same two kunai into the nearest two guys, however, a strong breeze came rolling in and blew in some snow waking the last guy. Who rolled over seeing blood and then seeing Cole squatted down with a kunai in two of his comrades. The man charged at Cole knocking him back out of the tent and into the snow. Standing up making a few handseals releasing his jutsu as the man got within striking range with the sword he had laying beside him. A tornado of wind rushed up around Cole slicing into the man and throwing him back into the tent. The wind would die back down as the man laid there bleeding and freezing as the tornado had ripped apart the tent that he was laying in. “I am the welcoming committee. Return and tell you men that me and my 300 shinobi will slaughter everyone of you that dares to enter into our domain” his voice would be sturdy and strong as he stood victorious. The man looked around for help but saw that there was no one coming and could see the blood running out the back side of the other tent.

The reverse crawling away from Cole turned and ran away. Cole stopped at the fire to warm up as he watched the man run into the distance. Grabbing one of the bottles nearby in the snow to keep it cold and popped the cork. He stayed watching the man run till he was out of sight and Cole was out of booze. With the mission done Cole returned back to the small village and collected his money and bottles before returning back to the ship to see if everyone was ready to get started with what they came here to do.

WC-2302

Exit
Claiming
23 Stats
4k ryo, 20 AP
1,500 Wc to Shadow clone
500 WC to Body Flicker
250 WC to Quiet Footsteps
Mission

Approved , but next time please remember to put the whole mission details in a spoiler at the top of the page thank you