The Longest Journey Part 1: Beginnings

As the noon sun lingers high overhead, fishermen busily crowd the docks, hauling in their latest catches to be sorted while swatting away enterprising gulls seeking to grab a bite or two. The wind blows in, carrying in the salty and slightly odorous scent of the sea air.
Children run about in the streets, playing games with an innocence many seek to regain. And amid all this stands a young woman clad in a simple tunic and pants coated with the dirt and dust of travel.  Looking around, she grins and thinks, “This right here is perfect; it's just my kind of town. The sun shining on me, the air ripe with opportunity. Now to find that damn tavern…”  She squints and looks around until finding what she has been looking for: a somewhat decrepit wooden building adorned with various fish-themed ornaments and overlooking a view of the ocean.
She goes inside and takes in the place's ambiance, dim oil lanterns illuminating the deep dark planks on the walls, streams of conversation held between patrons that blend in overlapped murmurs, scents of cured meats and cheap liquor wafting through the air. 
The weathered yet friendly tavern keep greets Khadagan, asking, “Welcome to the great Kotyan’s Briny Inn. My name is Kotyan. What can you get started for you, ma’am?” Khadagan replies, “Just a cup of water with a few squeezes of veterberry will do for me. Thank you very much.” 
Kotyan smiles and nods, and while he gets her drink, she looks around the room and scans for the person she was supposed to meet here. When Kotyan returns with her drink, Khadagan asks, “Pardon, but have you seen a Buryian man around here? About this tall, pale, middle-aged, graying brown hair, missing one eye, overly casual?”  Kotyan replies, “Oh him. Yes I’ve seen your man. He went upstairs with a very nice couple and a few bottles of wine. Would you like me to go get him for you?” 
Khadagan sighed, took a big sip of her drink, and said, “No, I can go get him myself. Here’s my payment for the drink.” She reaches into her bag, grabs a small stack of copper coins, and places them on the counter. She goes upstairs to the second floor and goes down a hallway lined with doors to private rooms. She looks around until she notices a room with the door slightly ajar. She hears laughter and moans coming out. Khadagan gently pushes the door open and peeks her head in to see the man she was supposed to meet making passionate drunken love to a man and woman with empty wine bottles laid about the room.
Khadagan clears her throat, going, “Ahem…Oleg!” Oleg jumps up startled to see Khadagan’s impatient expression glaring at him sternly. He quickly gets out of bed, puts on his shirt and pants, and says to the other man and woman, “Sorry, I've got business to take care of. Hope you two had a good time. And don’t worry about the wine. It’s all on m-AACCK!”  Khadagan drags him out the room by the collar of his shirt and exasperatingly says “Come on, Oleg. We need to talk.” She takes him down the hall, glaring at him sourly, and asks him through gritted teeth. “Are you kidding me right now?” Oleg attempts to speak, but Khadagan continues, “You told me in your letter to come here to discuss getting a crew together and I find you absolutely drunk off your rear end and getting all up inside some strangers. I…ughhhh.” Khadagan groans and rubs her temples frustratingly while Oleg casually says, “Well…you’ll be glad to hear then that I’ve already gotten the crew assembled for you. You just happened to catch me at a bad time while I was getting some rest. Come, let me introduce you to them.” Khadagan looks up, takes a deep breath, and says tiredly, “Alright, lead the way.”
Oleg leads her outside the tavern and down the pier to a large boat custom-built for extended voyages with masts and sails reaching high up into the sky. A group of people are scattered across the ship, with one person doing maintenance high up on the sails, one person checking the supply crates, and others sitting about chatting away. Oleg and Khadagan walk onto the gangplank and onto the deck.  Oleg half-shouts, “Alright everyone! Gather around and come meet your captain!”, and everyone moves over to where Oleg and Khadagan stand and look at them. Oleg looks around and says, “This everyone? Alright. This right here is Khadagan. She will be leading us on this expedition and co-captaining with me. I don’t want to see any of you give her any trouble because I can bet you she’ll beat your ass. Are we clear?” Everyone nods in agreement and Oleg says, “Alright. Let’s get our asses ready to set sail. Dismissed.” The crew go back to their various business and
Khadagan looks to Oleg and remarks, “Wow, Oleg. That was impressive. Since when did you become so commanding? What happened to that relaxed and mellow man I last saw just a few years ago?”  Oleg smiles and says “Eh, I picked it up once I realized that life isn’t always about going with the wind. Sometimes, you just have to not be afraid and enforce yourself onto the world. It only took me becoming a old wrinkly bastard to realize it.” They both laugh and lean against the railing of the ship, looking off into the great blue expanse. “Are you ready to see what’s out there?”, Oleg asks. 
Khadagan confidently smirks and replies, “Definitely. The sun is shining down on us, the air is ripe with opportunity, and the sea lays before us to forge our way through.” Oleg smirks back, nods, and looks up to the masts. “Sergei! Are the sails ready?”, he shouts to which the man shouts back, “All secured!” Oleg turns to Shreya, who oversees supplies, and asks “Shreya. How is our food and water looking for the journey?” She replies, “All good, captain. We have enough to last us weeks if not months.” 
Oleg turns to face the entire deck and says, “Excellent. How’s everyone else doing? Are we ready to get to sailing?” The crew all give some variation of “Yes, captain”. Oleg smiles and says “Then let’s get to it.” He and Khadagan get up on the quarterdeck as the boat is unmoored and setting for departure. They then hear a familiar voice behind them getting closer and closer, shouting, “Wait! You forgot to pay for the wine!”  They look to see the tavern keep Kotyan running down the pier, panting and out of breath. With a gust of air, Oleg grabs his coin purse and flings it at him, shouting, “Here! Take the entire bag! That should be more than enough!” Kotyan just barely catches the purse and looks inside to see it full to the brim with gold. He waves at Oleg and shouts "Thank you for your patronage!"
And with that, the crew set off on the high seas on their expedition to the eastern reaches of Terris.