30 Ashan 720
Balthazar had dressed the part for this mission even though he would have preferred not to play dress up. He wore a white shirt with stains in several places- most of them seeming like blood stains, some brown pants he was going to throw away before hearing he had this job, he wore a black bandana around his head and an eye patch over his left eye (which had taken some getting used to.) Balthazar didn't have a sword and he didn't want to spend the money to buy one for this little disguise (the rest having been comprised of old clothes and cloth he was able to rip away to make a bandana) so he went to the tavern the Element's had directed him too with no blade on his hip.
Unsurprisingly, Edric Drake was not in any of the tavern's Balthazar visited, instead a member of his crew, dressed very similarly to Balthazar, sat at a table in the corner with a list. Balthazar watched big, strong men go to the table and say something, then he watched the recruiter scribble their name down onto the list. So Balthazar introduced himself and leaned into his assets. He revealed to the recruiter that he was a mage and explained a basic sense of the Domain of Attunement to the man so that he could lie to him. It was hard to dumb it down for the pirate but Balthazar made it simple. He had a magic that could help them find treasure. He gave the name "Westley Roberts" and the recruiter wrote it down. Balthazar was given instructions to meet at the docks the following trial and he did just that.
Getting into the crew was easier than the Element's made it seem but that was just because Balthazar was more willing to lean into his magic than most. He half expected that Drake would try to take him prisoner upon his arrival at the docks and sell him off to slavers... but Balthazar knew he could sink Drake's whole ship before that happened. Most organic things could not be cut by portals... but the wood that comprised a ship could. But that did not happen. Drake's crew welcomed the mage with open arms and Balthazar spent the next two trials getting to know them. He'd had preferred they immediately go to their hideout, but Captain Drake seemed set on staying at sea for a few trials... he was probably testing the new crew members. It saddened Balthazar that he had to get to know these people he'd be arresting but it was necessary for his job.
They weren't all bad people. It was a modestly small crew with surprisingly more women aboard than most of the ships Balthazar had encountered and the women were far more helpful than Scarlet had been on the ship earlier in the season. Mary-Beth, Lily, and Susan were the female members of the crew who mostly cleaned and cooked because Drake had been unable to find male crew members who could actually make something edible. Lily and Susan cleaned the decks and Mary-Beth prepared the food with a few of the male crew. They'd all been ripped from their homes at some point by Drake but he'd taken a liking to them and so they were spared from the slave trade.
Of the men, not many stood out. They were mostly brutes who couldn't read or write and didn't speak great common. Balthazar surmised rather quickly that Drake held so much sway over the men because he was educated and they were not. He knew how to play on their base needs to get them to do what he wanted and more importantly he knew how to keep them away from the women. Balthazar discovered "The Rule-of-Three" very early on in his stay on the ship. Edric Drake forbid inter-ship romance between any of the sexes and to ensure this rule was enforced, no two individuals could be alone together. All rooms had at least three beds (except of course for the captain's) and if any members of the crew were found together without a third person, they'd be subjected to some sort of punishment.
Harmless conversation could lead to deck scrubbing duty. Standing too close during the same conversation could get you flogged. So everyone traveled in threes around the ship or they traveled alone and if they traveled alone they made sure to avoid others doing the same. This made Balthazar's job more difficult. You couldn't corner someone without them being worried about the captain flogging them and Balthazar wasn't comfortable prying with two people at a time while he was so new to the crew.
When Balthazar asked Drake why he'd made such a strict rule, the captain made it very clear that Balthazar's place was to follow orders and his place was to give them. So Balthazar devised a plan to ask the women. He knew better than to go to the men who were more or less Drake's stooges. The women were the only other people aboard the ship that he'd interacted with that seemed to display some decent intelligence but perhaps Balthazar was just being too judgemental. His mutation which made it difficult for him to read certainly made him appear to fit in.
Balthazar got himself assigned to the cleaning crew one trial so that he could speak to Lily and Susan without arousing the suspicion of the observant Captain Drake. There were plenty people on the top deck where Balthazar went about scrubbing. He was careful, and technical, as he used small applications of wind to push Susan and Lily closer together without them thinking it was anything more than a breeze. When they were finally close enough he moved in to speak with them- technically in a group of three. They were kind, good people, but that wasn't what he wanted to know. He steered the conversation towards the captain's rules and the women seemed to get antsy. They didn't like talking about it... or maybe they thought Balthazar meant to insinuate the three of them should break it, but when Balthazar clarified that he was just curious they seemed to relax.
Lily hadn't been on the ship long enough- or been curious enough, to ask but Susan had been on the ship since before the rule even existed. Apparently Captain Drake- back when he was Quartermaster Drake, had fallen in love with one of the women on his captain's ship. Drake was conflicted about his feelings but his captain urged him to pursue his love because his captain believed that love was the most powerful and important force on Idalos. So Drake pursued his love with this woman (Susan thought her name might have been Merril) and one day times began to get tough for the crew. They were running low on supplies and their captain was too tentative about attacking merchant ships. Merril implored Drake to mutiny. He refused at first, but Merril used his love against him and within a fortnight they'd mutinied. But Merril wanted to become the new captain. Drake couldn't give up the power and refused.
Merril's loyalists fought with her against Drake's loyalists... most of the crew was killed and Merril escaped. Now she's somewhere out there with half of Drake's oldest friends working against him. So Drake declared a war on love. He forbade any sign of affection and romance aboard his ship and a few arcs later instigated the Rule of Three to intimidate the crew. Balthazar wanted to pry for more but he noticed a lot of the crew was beginning to stare at him and the women. They were whispering words he couldn't hear and he didn't like it so he excused himself and went back to work.