The Orlesian plains seemed to stretch on forever, even more than the Waking Sea resting beside it. A weary horse hung its head and dragged its feet. Iron Bull stared down at the tired beast, a look of pity crossing his face, before finally sighing and hopping off her back, "I guess I can't expect a mount not trained to carry a Qunari to last the whole trip. Especially one with muscles as -".

"As dense as that thick skull?" Krem chimed in, mounted on top of his own horse, it still full of energy, "With the bounty you've got us chasing this time, I can't blame the thing."

Bull smirked at the jab, "Ah, c'mon Krem, it's just a little sea voyage. Kick a few pirates in the head, return to Orlais, get the bounty, and you never have to set sail again." Krem just stared, half-jokingly raising an eyebrow, "Bah," Bull turned to the rest of the Chargers, "all the other guys like the idea of the open seas, right?"

The rest of the Bull's Chargers rested on their horses behind Krem, some having to share mounts. Most stared at Bull much in the same way Krem did, Dalish seemed queasy, and Grim answered with a reassuring grunt.

Bull raised a hand, pointing with an open palm at the Chargers, "See?" Krem only grinned and shook his head. Bull digressed, retreating his hand to the top of his head. "Look, I know we aren't exactly swashbuckling navy-men," Dalish raised her 'bow' to that, "but we've taken down everything from giant spiders to giant, possessed cheese wheels to actual giants. What's captaining a ship to us?"

"Foreign, Chief." All the other Chargers except Grim nodded at Krem's remark, "How can we be expected to pilot a ship into the Waking Sea, let alone win a battle against the Raiders?"

Bull sighed, patted the side of his horse, and walked closer to his mercenary band. He looked to Grim, then to Dalish, scanning his crew and thinking. Finally, he turned his gaze to Krem, a feeling of confidence rising inside himself.

"Alright, you want to know how we do this? Here's the plan. Grim, you're the navigator. I'm...pretty sure you've been one before?" Grim grunted again, "Good. Rocky, I don't know if you've got any tricks in that pack of yours, but anything and everything is worth it. We don't need them alive, we just need their flag." Rocky, sitting behind Stitches, seemed to get excited at that idea.

"Stitches, you're in charge of the masts unless someone gets hurt. Keep that sword arm ready, though." Stitches nodded. "Dalish," she almost tried to hide behind her horse, "I need those archer eyes and bow in the crows nest." Dalish seemed ready to faint, cursing her 'archer' ploy under her breath. Bull just smirked, along with the rest of the Chargers.

"Skinner, you and I have the fun job." Skinner seemed in a daze at first, but hearing her name and 'fun' together got her attention well, "As confident as I am in our ability to do this, I'm that much more confident in our ability to fight. So…" Bull reached into the pack he had strapped on his horse and pulled out a long rope attached to a grappling hook, "We're gonna make sure we get to fight." Not just Skinner's, but everyone's face seemed to light up at this statement.

He then went through commands for all the other Chargers, ranging from deck sweeper to boat rower. After Bull finished issuing the last job, everyone was just as confident as he was. They felt ready to take on a Qunari dreadnought. Even Bull's horse seemed to be reinvigorated. Having succesfully restored his company's resolve, he climbed back onto his horse and signalled for everyone to move forward.

"Wait, Chief," Krem had been sitting on his mount awaiting his important job. After all, he was the Luitenant. "What's my job?"

"Oh, almost forgot!" Bull chuckled a bit, "You're on bilge duty, Krem." Krem coughed a little at the statement. The other Chargers laughed and began heading out behind Bull. It took Krem a few moments of disbelief to realize he was being left behind. He quickly trodded along after them and they continued their journey East to the docks.

Further down the shore, after singing the anthem of the Bull's Chargers a dozen times, taking a break after Skinner found just the perfect tree to mark her territory, and then singing the anthem another dozen times, the sun was finally setting. Despite them doing their damndest to get to the docks as soon as possible, they'd lost a few hours from all the stops the Chargers had to make. Bull called for them to set up camp.

Bull and a few of the Chargers went off to collect any wood they could find. The plains of the Orlesian heartlands had been so heavily colonized that un-claimed dry wood was hard to come across. Luckily, the Chargers didn't care too much what some pompous Orlesian thought about them grabbing a couple twigs...As long as they didn't see them.

Others grabbed tents and supplies, spreading them out around the camp and fought over spots near the fire. Krem kept watch of the horses. With nothing to tie them to, everyone was only hoping they'd stick around the camp. They were already sharing saddles as it was.

Rocky set up the fire pit, despite Stitches' request not to. Not after last time when one of his 'gaatlok' prototype bombs fell into the pit. They had ran out of all their bandages in one night!

Once the group hunting for dry wood returned, everything had been set up. Bull appeared behind them, carrying two large logs on his shoulders and set them down by the fire pit. The others threw their firewood into the pit and Dalish 'shot an arrow', setting it aflame.

"You know," Rocky smirked at Dalish, "I really need to learn how you set things on fire with arrows."

Dalish pointed to a burn scar on her arm, likely from Rocky's accident, "No, you don't." Dalish smirked back at him.

Krem walked over to the fire, finding a spot on the log across from The Iron Bull, "Fucking Orlesians, sending us damn near to the Frostbacks just to get a boat," He murmered, "Orlais has a harbor."

"Yeah, but it's too busy with traders to make room for a battle vessel. Also, it takes a real special person to actually get a personal dock in that harbor." Bull butted into Krem's murmurs, "And damn if we'd be lucky enough to get connections to someone like that."

Krem poked at the fire with a twig, glancing over to the Chargers now gathering around the fire, "So Chief, you ever been on the sea? In one of those Qunari dreadnoughts? You seem to know enough about ships."

Bull raised his head, thinking back to his Par Vollen days, "Mostly as a landing troop, someone to rush the enemy when we hit shore. It felt good being in one, though. Made you feel...powerful, even if you weren't doing anything," Bull noticed the others beginning to fixate on the conversation, "The way the crew would work as a single unit; it was really impressive.

"Might have wanted to be part of the navy had I not been so good at lieing." Krem smiled at Bull, as did many of his men.

"So is that why you wanted to collect the bounty?" Krem grabbed an apple from a nearby supply cache.

"Hm?" Bull seemed distracted.

Krem chomped on the apple, making an audible crunch, "You know, making us chase pirates." His words were muffled by the fruit, but Bull understood him.

"Maybe. But did you see the bounty on that Raider?" Krem shook his head, still chewing, "50 000 gold!" Krem suddenly choked on his apple, spitting it out into the fire.

He gasped, trying to recover, "50 000!? That's insane! What kind of noble did they piss off!?" The other Chargers seemed as surprised as Krem. Grim even raised an eyebrow.

"With that kind of money, I could buy the gaatlok off Qunari!" Rocky laughed in disbelief.

"Qunari wouldn't sell you gaatlok if you offered a chicken that shat out its weight in gold every two seconds. You might want to quit while you're ahead, Rocky," Bull shook his head at the tenacious dwarf, "Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting damn thirsty. Someone grab one of the casks. The hangover might help our sea legs tomorrow."

The Chargers all roared as the cask was cut open. Bull enjoyed the night as much as he could. Sometimes he treasured his acting ability, other times he cursed it. Tonight, he wasn't sure which he thought.