Relic Hunters (Season 7): Drive

As the sun rises from the horizon and the sky takes on the orangish hue of dawn, the Relic Hunters mobilize for their next mission. Dropping the anchor of the Palaemon while a few feet away from Peminnow Island due to the island not having any docks, most of the crew depart towards island in search of a portal to Trimount Island. The only crew mates that remain aboard the vessel are Jacob Greenheart, resident old thief and appraiser, and @Murizath/Cedric , the resident demonologist and cleric.

Greenheart waves the party a goodbye, the breeze of the early morning rustling his grey goatee and peppering his darkened skin. The old man drops the facade of cheerfulness once he sees the two dinghies reach the coast of the island. Weathered by age though very much aware of his duties, the thieving pirate looks around the Palaemon for Cedric.
Cedric would be in the Palaemon's crew bunkers, a rudimentary station set up to organize his notes would be in one of the corners near his bunk, as he'd be sitting there, looking over what he had found out. He'd notice as soon as Greenheart walked in, looking over while finishing a sentence on a piece of parchment
“Aaaah, Mr. Von Torbren. I do believe we need tah ave a slight discussion. The reasons being I feel as if we got hitched with the wrong set of intentions,” says Greenheart, his hands tugging on his vest and cloak in order to make himself more presentable before sitting upon the bed, readjusting the eye patch over his left eye, and staring at Cedric with a distant stare.
"Are you implying that my presence is unneeded?" He'd look over, shifting his body away from the papers.
“Not at all. I’m implyin that you don’t truly realize what you’re gettin yerself into and in that I find myself needing to set straight for you where we stand,” he says as he looks at you, his sight unwavering. He rolls up his sleeves and on each arm is a variety of scars, stitches, and scabs with the most notable being a line of stitches across each of his wrists. “How do you assume I got these scars Mr. Von Torbren?”
"Being a pirate, getting into battles, yes, I get the point, you're the scarred veteran trying to teach the fresh meat. I know what I'm here for."
“Hm... you’ve got it figured out then,” he asks sarcastically as he rubs his knuckles,” So you know that on a literal sense, you have correctly answered my question, but on another you have completely missed the point.” He stands up and walks over to Cedric, sleeves still folded up, and just looks at him with his single eye.
Cedric looks closer, specifically to the scars/stitches on the wrists. "Self-harm?"
Greenheart shakes his head. “For a demonologist, you sure do take things at face value...,” he says as he cross his arms and closes his eye to think for a moment,” Hm... How bout this for a better question. Why did you become a demonologist?”
"Interested in it since I was a kid, was always drawn to it reading over my materials. Why do you ask?"
Greenheart just shakes his head again. “Get up boy,” he grumbles roughly as he takes a step back and walks out into the hall outside of your room,” Come out here.”
Cedric would push his work, closing his journal and taking it with him as he'd rise to his feet, following Greenheart while looking to where they were going.
Greenheart would ascend the steps up onto the top deck, sets his quiver down on the ground along with his other weapons, and then looks at Cedric. As Cedric comes up above the deck Greenheart just looks at him for a few moments before walking up to him and punching Cedric square in his jaw with a strong right hook. “Why do you suppose I just punched you boy.”
Cedric gets straight knocked in the jaw, stumbling back as he stumbles back into a barrel, his hands moving to begin casting a spell as he'd look to Greenheart. "To say I'm weak, or not prepared. And that hurt, you ass."
“Nah... something inside of me told me to. I see it a lot in you but it ain’t fully grown yet,” he says casually as he grabs you by the collar and punches you once again, this time straight to the chest as you feel the air leave your lungs. “The world’s not going to wait for you boy. You gotta go and get it yourself. Now I ask you again, Why did you become a demonologist,” he asks as he tosses you onto the deck and looms over you with his fists raised when you try to form another spell.
"I told you the reason old bag, now get off me!" He'd attempt to push away from Greenheart by pushing into his legs, trying to put distance between them.
Greenheart would stumble back a bit and just shakes his head. "Obviously you aren't picking up on my meaning boy so lets try a bit of association," he says as he walks over to Cedric casually and grabs him by his hair, forcing him to look at the sky. "Why does a wolf hunt? Why does a bird fly? Why do we all live and not just kill ourselves when things get tough," he asks rhetorically before letting go over your head and pushing you over onto your back," They! Had! Drive!" He then lays into you with a fury of blows, each one ramping up in severity as his fists make contact with your chest. "You BECAME a demonologist because you had the DRIVE to follow your interest, you got on this ship becuase of your DRIVE to prove your innocence, and you have a DRIVE to not get hurt don't you?"
Cedric would get punched over and over again by Greenheart, possessing an unusual amount of strength. He'd get pummeled before quickly attempting to draw his dagger and pierce into Greenheart's side, attempting to aim for the man's kidneys.
Seeing the iron of the dagger glisten off the sun, Greenheart would roll off of Cedric. Nodding as he stands up, he feels his side, and looks at the small amount blood on his fingers. "You're still acting like a child boy. For all the countless hours I'm sure you spent up in them towers of study you ain't learned a god damn thing about taking care of yourself. You only had your drive to keep you going. I bet you stayed up countless hours looking up the differences between devils n demons, but never once learned how to cook for yourself? You were cooped up, probably like your brother, ina small room staring at walls and pictures of all your family and thinking "Damn. I'm gonna be just as greaat as them." but never realized what they did to get to where they are right now?" With a quick flourish, Greenheart dives for his dagger and stares at Cedric, waiting for his next move.
As Greenheart brandishes his dagger, Cedric takes his and flicks it towards him, as it'd fly past his head and body, the blade embedding itself into one of the wooden surfaces on the ship.
Greenheart scoffs as he stabs his own dagger into the deck and raises his fists, motioning for Cedric to take the first punch. "Funny thing about drive boy. It can make you a legend, but the boy you are now is going to die real quick. Now come on... I'll give you a freebie."
As Greenheart is busy stabbing his own dagger into the deck and monologuing, trying to use his thrown knife as a distraction for Greenheart, Cedric quickly begins bringing together his voice in a clearly arcanic way, using the time frame he had tried to create to say a single word to Greenheart. "Grovel."
With magic glossing over his eyes, Greenheart falls to knees and stares at the ground, chuckling to himself. "It was my drive that got me where I am now. Most of my family dead and too many enemies to count. Yours is gonna get you killed quicker than me boy. You might end up sacrificing your own family to achieve a graph of demonic movements, you'll make everyone who has ever cared about you hate you because you went a little too far with your research, and worse... you'll be no better than the fiends you study so passionately. My point in this is to teach you before it's too late. Unlike me..."
Cedric would look over to the man, quickly running over and collecting the various weapons around him as he'd listen to his speech, clearly getting pissed off as he went on. "You don't know know me, my family or what I'm doing. Back off, and let me do my work."
Greenheart chuckles, turning into a full laugh. "BOY, everyone knows about House Crowe AND your family. But what would I expect. You run. You hide. You cower. You reek boy. Just like a corpse. You best be getting your head out of your own ass because between me and Ford, he wouldn't hesitate to break your spine over his knee like a tooth pick if he EVER caught wind of your "research" potentially endangering the crew. It's better you learn from me than him. But of course I don't expect a shut in to understand. Too blinded by his drive to even adapt." He chuckles once again. "And here I thought you were a follower of Oghma. Can't even realize when you've got a font of knowledge right in your face yet will swear up and down his way is right. So single minded..."(edited)
Cedric's body movements change from the usual cautious, bent-over back look to one filled with infuriation at Greenheart's accusations. "Are you likening me to a bottom-feeder cultist, worshipping and summoning things they can't understand? And you accuse me of endangering the crew just by merely trying to understand other creatures? I know what I am doing, and the more you liken me to an insane worshipper who wants to play puppets with demons and devils to have fun, the more you piss me off."
As he hears this Greenheart stands, the arcane hold upon his body loosened until dispersing entirely," I never said anything about you being like a cultist Mr. Von Torbren. However, like all great people, you will eventually need a little bit more than what you can find in a few pages. I find it interesting how you related yourself to a cultist. Almost as if you've been hurt by such accusations before." Greenheart looks at Cedric and walks towards him, taking a healing potion out from one of his pockets, and holds it up to Cedric with a look of relief and dread. "You'll learn Mr. Von Tobren.... Either the my way... or world's way.... I ain't sayin you need to stop following what drives you. Just use more caution and soak in your surroundings. You ain't in a controlled environment anymore. You're better than your family and in a strange sense I know you're gonna be a great man, but you've got a lot of growing to do. A little experience never hurt no body and I'm sure that you could use someone a bit kinder as an introduction to the world at large. And by the way, you really need to work on your intimidation skills. I've seen what you can do and your threats need to carry a bit more weight to'em."
Cedric would go quiet, listening to Greenheart as he'd speak, looking over to his leather-bound tomb. "I'll fix myself." He'd begin to walk off, looking back at Greenheart once before he'd descend the wooden staircase into the bowels of the ship, returning to his seclusion once more.
Greenheart shakes his head though as he watches Cedric descend he sighs, somewhat in relief and somewhat in sadness. "He'll learn... by the gods I hope he'll learn," Greenheart thinks to himself as he looks at Peminnow island and then towards the sea and his eyes squint to as he sees something rise out of the waves. It seems like a whale due to its size though its skin is most peculiar. As the object rises from the tide, it emerges without a sound and waters leaks off of the sides as a very tall creature stands at the figurehead of this enormous ship. It's wood old and weary, the masts destroyed entirely though still sailing as if blown by wind as if a hole was never there to begin with, and several tears coat its exterior like an infestation. "Oh.... shit....," mumbles Greenheart as he grabs his equipment and goes below deck," CEDRIC! CEDRIC GET TO A DINGHY AND GO TO SHORE NOW A SHIP JUST EMERGED OUT OF THE WATER AND IT'S HEADED RIGHT FOR US!"
Cedric rushes up the staircase, looking out to the ocean to see this enormous ship, it's condition making it sound like a derelict craft when it was very much active. He'd look for any available dinghies on the boat, running over and attempting to quickly drop one into the ocean with himself on it.
Crawling up from the sides of the Palaemon, several hands hoisting themselves onto the deck, too each side of Cedric are three seven foot tall creatures with several rows of teeth, brown or greyish skin with large dorsel fins, and wielding large bone carved glaives. It's at this time, as the weresharks start to close around Cedric that Greenheart emerge from below deck. "Fuck me... DUCK BOY," yells Greenheart as he fires an arrow at the wereshark but the arrow falls harmlessly to the ground," Damn..." There is a single dinghy on the left side of the ship that is dangling on a rope.
Cedric would back off from the Weresharks, trying to shuffle backwards towards the single dinghy that seemed somewhat undefended.
Greenheart would assist in helping Cedric to his dinghy, fending off the weresharks by trying to shoot them in the eyes. "Good luck Mr. Von Tobren," Greenheart says quickly before cutting the rope and taking the offensive to weresharks. Through swift reflexes, swinging on between the masts, and scaling up the main mast the the crow's nest, Greenheart seems to make his final stand against these weresharks they climb up the main mast with a larger than life ship sailing straight towards the Palaemon.
Cedric can only give Greenheart's final stand a quick glance as he uses his little strength to motorboat his dinghy towards the shore, away from the Palaemon.