"Well hello, sugar." A woman with a warm and inviting smile said as she leaned on the edge of a house boat's window that overlooked the deck where Adam stood. The door to the interior was open but only the top part of the door, as the door itself split the top and bottom. It would have been more than easy enough for Adam to walk through but it was clear it was done this way to indicate customers were not meant to walk inside. However, through the doorway Adam could see boxes upon boxes of ammo, gun racks full of weapons, and even a gun turret sitting against the wall. The interior clearly used to be a kitchen however it had been thoroughly gutted to allow for this to become a store. Despite the dangerous arms the woman was selling her smile was purely innocent.
"First time on The Raft?" She asked with a smile.
"Nail on the head." Adam smiled.
"Well I can't offer any discounts for new faces, but I can be happy about it. Been a while since any new folks were allowed aboard."
"How come?" Adam asked, curious. However the woman seemed to hesitate, her smile faltering.
"Ah well, it's complicated. I try to keep my nose clean and my head down. Something like this is… well I would rather not speak on it..." She said with a maudlin tone before shaking it off and continuing with a smile. "However, if you have some business to conduct…" She prompted. To which Adam gladly responded by handing his backpack over full of the guns he had taken from the APC.
"And my friend's bags too." He grinned as he gestured with his thumb to Deccanus, Mira, Percy, and Sgt. Fyre, who had luckily been rather quiet for the time being.
"Well, nothing I love more than a man with a gun to sell." She chuckled and then began to dig through.
Adam was happy to offload his guns to the merchant, and the woman behind the 'counter' was more than happy to purchase them. Unfortunately, she was not nearly as cap rich at the moment as The Tower was. Though as Adam began to offload his goods to her other merchants in the area began to congregate, interested to see the commotion. In the end Adam was able to sell most of the guns he and his friends brought with them onto the raft. A total of 4255 caps were earned after a lot of haggling, a lot of inspection, and a lot of good work. Once more Adam took out a chunk to give to the Vault coffers. 500 caps this time. And then split the rest 5 ways. Each person got 751 caps each. Of course the caps owed to Eve and the caps for the coffers were once more set aside even if Adam carried them.
Now armed with even more caps and Adam's load of guns even lighter than it was before he set out again to the big boat. Climbing up a long and steep bridge made of far sturdier materials than most of the other bridges up until now he arrived at the largest boat and got a wide view of the entirety of The Raft.
It was far bigger than he even assumed when he was driving on the side of the lake. It certainly dwarfed the size of Midway but from here he could see that there were far less people than Midway. In addition, while it was bigger, it was mostly because it was spread out. While there were some boats that were locked together closely most were spread out, to give some space between each of them. In fact, without the bridges, if you put all the boats side by side it would be noticeably smaller than probably even Naper. However, that was a moot point. The most interesting thing though was that every single boat, barge, pontoon, yacht, cruiser, tug, and any other manner of things that float were utilized fully. The boats at the entrance seemed to be mostly unused by anyone other than the guards, but the guards themselves were using them as fortifications, a few were even armed with mounted guns. He could see gardens, fish traps, art murals, repair shops, and virtually anything else that could be needed at sea disconnected from the land.
But more than any of that was the massive boat he was on now. The entire top of the deck, a huge swath of space, had been converted to a massive farm growing all manner of crops. It was very clearly maintained vigilantly and even just thinking about the effort it must have taken to move all the dirt onto the ship was mind boggling. Or how it was still floating. Or was it floating? Maybe it was beached. Adam wasn't sure. After all, the boat was so big he didn't even feel the wake.
Regardless, once he was aboard he noticed a lot more signs on the side of the railings pointing to various places on the boat. He was interested in checking out a place called The Speakeasy. But before he could he was met by three of the guards who were also wearing sailor uniforms upgraded with gear and body armor.
"Adam Baxter, yes?" The woman at the front said.
"Yes?" Adam asked, politely.
"The Songbird would like to see you."
"Songbird?" Adam asked, back, even more confused than before.
"Our leader. She heard about your arrival. She is the reason you were allowed on board. I promise you won't be harmed but if you would please at least hear her out. We have um… some problems…" The woman said as she looked at the guy to her right who looked away seemingly not willing to engage the topic like she was.
"Well if I can help…" Adam began before the other man who didn't look away spoke up.
"I doubt you can. But it's not my place to decide. That's up to the Songbird."
"Well um… take us to the song bird then…" Adam said, uncertain but willing to humor them as meeting the leader could be beneficial in the long run. And, if they are having a problem like they said, if he could help he wanted to. In the back of his mind a mini Salvatore was yelling at him but he quieted that tiny voice down and focused on doing what good he could.
The three guards then spun around and led Adam and his group towards the control tower of the boat, heading towards the bridge of the ship.
As they walked Adam shot a glance to his companions. Sgt. Fyre was still oddly quiet but being a Mr. Gutsy it's not as if he had readable expressions. Deccanus looked placid as usual, Percy looked as confused as Adam was, though seemingly finding the occasion fun and excited to see what this strange new person was like, and Mira was skeptical, which really was quite typical of her.
After walking up a bunch of metal stairs they arrived at the Bridge, a wide open room with a few computer consoles, a wheel and some levers, a backwall that was entirely made of glass which gave a great view of not only the deck but a large portion of The Raft as it wrapped around the sides of the front of the bridge too, and finally a fine red chair with a woman sitting on it. While her long red dress looked well maintained and well kept she herself looked old. Perhaps that was due to the stresses of time, or perhaps that was just natural aging, but her skin was quite wrinkled and her body looked frail. And yet, she seemed still full of vitality. She looked as though, if prompted, she had no issue standing up and getting into a brawl. Even if she did not carry herself that way. That is all to say, despite looking held back by the ravages of time, she was enduring it well, and even thriving in it.
"Well, I must say I am quite surprised you showed up here, Adam Baxter." She said with a knowing smile, her eyes telling stories her mouth did not. "Welcome to our home. Welcome to The Raft."