We landed at an island that we didn't know the name of. Hoping that it was an island small and unknown enough to where we wouldn't be found. The island was suffering a storm, bolts of lightning scarring the ground with every strike. The downpour of the rain was oppressive and harsh, yet also served to keep the trees from lighting ablaze from the lightning above. Amidst the torrential downpour we stood below, surrounding a makeshift grave to mourn the one we lost.
I learned that the one who was shot on the way out was named Tucker, and unfortunately he didn’t survive the trip to safety. We just didn’t have the resources on hand on the caravel to stabilize his wounds. Truly I wish there was more I could have done to have saved him…
We dug him a grave as soon as we landed at Morden's request, doing the best we could with what we had. Amena and Ace dug the hole, and Morden and I laid him to rest. Dr. Fjord gathered whatever possible to make a makeshift tombstone, still feeling the guilt crawling on his back. It wasn’t a funeral I was used to, but it was the best we could do in our scenario. Baltazar stood off, looking into space towards Frostmill Island, much to Morden and I’s disapproval.
We took our moment of silence to honor his life. I can only hope he sees the holy realm above or finds the fields of Valhalla, or whichever afterlife he believed in. Morden stood behind still mourning the loss of Tucker and Baltazar continued to stare off towards the icy island while the rest of us convened to discuss our next plans.
“Well… we’re alive through that whole ordeal.” I said. “I still have to figure out where I’m headed but, do you all know where you’re going from here?”
Amena was quick to speak up.
“I gotta get to Silverhold, there’s a missing person’s report with their name on it.” she said, still sounding worried. “With all the chaos, surely he would’ve got out like we did, right?”
“I hope so.” I told her, trying to instill confidence. She looked hurt by my choice of words.
“Well. I got a crew to find and a strange group to track down so I’ve got a lot on my plate.” Ace said as he’s taking the helmet off, revealing his white hair, azure blue eyes, and most noticeably, the scar on his left eye. “I’ll probably rest here for the night and find them tomorrow morning.”
“I wish you the best of luck in finding your crew, Ace.” I said wishing good fortune. “If you find anything of note, could you keep me in the know? This ‘order’ has hurt far too many people today and it’s my duty to see this group dismantled.”
“Sure thing.” Ace promised. “If I get any leads on them I'll let you know.”
“Much appreciated, Thank you.” I smiled. “With some luck, we’ll be able to get to the bottom of this.”
“I'm gonna go with Ace.” Dr. Fjord said. “Since I’m now considered a traitor in their eyes, I’ll do what I can to help him with it.”
“I’m going to stay here for a bit… I need to think some things over.” Morden said from Tucker’s grave.
I nodded back solemnly in acknowledgement of his situation. He spoke up again.
“Stanford, if you don’t know where you’re headed maybe you should go to Redwake. It’s not far from here and a raft should be able to make it.” Morden suggested.
“That works for me. Maybe the chief would know something about this group or anybody who would.” I said, considering the idea. I then turned to where Baltazar was standing.
“Baltazar? Where are you headed?” I asked him as he continued to stare off into space.
“I’m thinking of heading over to the village on the iceberg.” he said, sounding sure of himself.
“I guess we’re all going our separate ways then. How many rowboats do we have from the caravel?” I asked, wondering how this was going to work.
Ace checked the caravel out for rowboats
“Yikes, we only have two rowboats available.” Ace answered. “But at least they’re fully intact.”
“Wait, how am I supposed to get all the way to Silverhold? The Grand Navy base is practically across the sea from here!” Amena asked worried, being stranded here likely didn’t cross her mind.
I almost thought I heard Baltazar scoff after she mentioned the Navy, but I couldn’t be certain over the weather.
“Good question.” I wondered, considering how banged up the caravel got through the rough waters. I doubt that she’s got much life left in her.
“Hey, don’t worry. I can take you to Silverhold first thing next sunrise if you're cool with the idea of flying.” Ace offered.
“You’d do that?” Amena said surprised. “Thank you so much!”
“Not a problem.” Ace said.
“Could I catch a lift as well?” Dr. Fjord asked.
“Not at all,” he said. “I’ll just come back for you after I drop Amena off at Silverhold.”
“That’s fine by me.” Dr. Fjord said.
“Well that solves a few problems, how are we going to split up the boats?” I asked.
“Well if you’re heading to Redwake then you should take the caravel, Stanford.” Morden said. “They have a shipyard there and could get it patched up and the sails of that group taken down to keep you off their map.”
“I don’t object.” Baltazar agreed. “Just leave us the rowboats and we’ll figure it out from there.”
“Well that sorts that out.” I stated, seeing that the problem has been solved. “Let’s find shelter for tonight and head off in the morning.”
Everyone agreed except for Baltazar.
“I’ll just head to the icecube now, I think it’d be easier to slip by in the night.” he said.
“Oh. Alright.” I said, taken aback. “Best of luck to you then, I hope you find what you need.”
“Thanks, I might need it.” he muttered, before heading to grab a rowboat.
The rest of us found a cave under the island, it was a small cave with not much in it outside of a small puddle in the middle. It looked good enough to shelter us for the night while we rested. As we prepared to head to sleep for the night, Ace activated his flaming aura to help dry us off from the rain, now that I really think about it I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fire magic that was blue like that before, nevermind how warm it was. The group of us fell asleep to the sound of the waves, a sound we had missed for so long.
Waking up the next morning was nice, finally waking up not in what felt in a glorified tomb was refreshing. I could tell it wasn’t the same for all of us though as Amena was already up, and she looked like she didn’t sleep at all last night.
“Morning, Amena.” I said to her, “Sleep well last night?”
“Oh… Morning, Stan… *yawn*” she said, tiredly. “Yeah… you could say that…”
“You sure? You look and sound exhausted.” I pointed out with some concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine… just kinda tough given the situation… That and my pillows were as hard as rocks.” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes with a chuckle.
“Well it sure as hell beats what we had before.” I pointed out with a laugh.
The rest of the group got up not long after and we prepared to go our separate ways. Ace put on a straw hat and flew off with Amena as promised. Morden and Dr. Fjord stayed behind, and I sailed off for Redwake.
The waters were rough as a result of the storm over the island, but it wasn’t enough to sink me. The caravel held up just well enough as I navigated my way through The Jaws to the dockyard of Redwake. Though I noticed something was up as I reached the dock. The docks were barren, like the Redwake people weren’t there. All that was on the docks was crates of fish, a couple of which were toppled over. A civilian was hidden underneath the docks as a crew of what looked like pirates ran amok through the town. I pulled my caravel into the dockyard.
The woman looked to be closer to middle aged with a black hairband guiding her long brown hair down behind her head, with some long bangs down the sides of her face. She had black eyes and a darker complexion with freckles spotting her cheeks. She wore brown clothes with an apron normally worn by a chef or tavernkeep. She was curled up under the deck hiding from those above. I tied off my boat and snuck up to check on her trying not to be seen by the criminals.
“Hey, is everything alright here?” I asked her worriedly.
“What are you doing here? Now isn't exactly the best time to visit Redwake…” she said, relieved.
“What’s going on?” I asked again.
“Pirates just landed here, but since all of our warriors have gone hunting, the rest of us are defenseless and hiding.” she answered.
“Alright, stay safe and out of sight. If you need help just yell, I’ll deal with the pirates.” I quickly planned out.
“Promise me you won’t do anything risky.” she asked me, seeing the number of pirates and my wounds from the day prior, I understood the worry.
“I won’t.” I smiled reassuringly.
She nodded as I got back up and prepared to handle the pirate problem. I walked up the wooden ramp to face the town. The town was as stunning as I remembered. Nestled through the stony spires was a series of boardwalks and decks leading to a center marketplace of sorts. Bridges connected above create a large network of residence through the town. The sight to behold was disturbed by swaths of pirates storming the handbuilt walkways plundering as they saw fit. As I strategized my first move from the left came a pair of pirates carrying boxes. I stepped forth to stop them.
“Alright, put down the boxes.” I demanded.
“Arr, Finders keepers!” one of them snapped back.
“Don’t make me ask again.” I said, keeping my composure.
“Aye!” the pirate shouts back sarcastically. “As ye wish!”
The two pirates then dropped their boxes on the ground and drew their cutlasses while running towards me. I expected something like this, I put my arms up blocking with my armor as they swung their blades. The hits scratched my armor, but otherwise I was fine. In retaliation I cast a blast spell at the floor and the impact sends the two of them flying backwards.
They get back up onto their feet to try again charging for another swing, these pirates weren’t very experienced in a skirmish I could tell by their barbaric strategy. I stomp on the ground creating a large metal pillar between the two of them knocking them both off balance again. They looked at the pillar in terror as I could tell they realized how in over their heads they were. The two of them look at eachother and silently agree to retreat back to the rest of the pirates. I let them flee as I followed, walking cautiously into the rest of the town.
The pirates seemed to be in disarray just from the idea of a bit of resistance. All across the town square I saw them bolting left and right between buildings and towards their ship, dropping their loot along the way. They must’ve thought this would be a clean heist. I created another blast in my hand to help intimidate them.
“All of you, Return the stolen valuables and leave at once!” I shouted out to the whole group of them.
“You scurvy dog, We’ll surrender our loot over our dead bodies!” One of them wearing a captain’s hat shouted. Almost on cue they all ran for the ship they arrived with over by one of the back docks.
I dismissed the blast and created a barricade of metal blocking off the way to the ship before them. At least a few of them must have ran directly into it.
“On second thought…” the captain said, before calling out another order. “Ditch the loot, we can get our treasure another day! Jump into the water!”
One by one the pirates dove into the water leaving their stolen property behind. I let them flee, hoping that this moment would stick with them to keep them from doing something like this again. As I observed the ship fleeing, scraping a few of the Jaw Spires on the way out. I turned around to look for any other fleeing pirates and saw the same woman from the docks walking up.
“Well done, Captain Magnusson. I knew you had this under control the second you arrived!” She said happily.
“Not a problem at all.” I said, disregarding the misplaced title. “The pirates fled once the first two were defeated. More importantly though, are you okay?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. You’re probably exhausted after the fighting.” she said. “Tell you what, since the chief isn’t back yet to give you a proper reward, I’ll let you stay in a room in The Red Fin for free during your visit here. How does that sound?”
I thought about it for a second. I normally wouldn’t like to take rewards like this as the feeling of helping another is, and always has been, a reward enough for me. But as I contemplate this pain shoots through my arm again, still sore from the fights in the prison. I probably should take her up on her offer.
“Only if it doesn’t affect the innkeeper, I’d greatly appreciate it.” I said, not wanting to disrupt business for the owner of the tavern.
“Well, I can tell you that it doesn’t affect the Innkeeper at all, You’re looking at her right now.” She said back with a smile. “I’ll go prepare your room.”
“Sounds good then, Thank you greatly.” I thanked her wholeheartedly. Finally, some respite that isn’t on the rock floor or bound to a table.
I followed her to one of the buildings built into the spires. It was a taller building with a few windows going up. There was a nailed down sign above the door that read “The Red Fin”. As we walked in the Tavern was mostly empty with a couple of citizens in the corner. The walls were built up with boards making it look indistinguishable from your standard house in the bronze sea, despite being built inside of a large stone spire.
“The pirates are gone, you guys are safe now.” I say to the citizens hiding.
“Oh good, I was getting worried sitting in this corner.” one of the citizens replied. “I assume you scared them off?”
“You could say that.” I said, a bit modestly.
“Well you did something alright. Thank you for your help, bless the gods you showed up when you did.” Another one said.
“It’s no problem at all, I like to help out where I can.” I replied.
“Hey, Captain Magnusson.” The Innkeeper said. “Your room is the first one on the right up the stairs. I’ll be down here if you need me.”
“Oh, Thank you greatly… uh..” I thanked her, realizing mid sentence I never got her name.
“Estrid.” she answered warmly. “The name is Estrid.”
“Right, Thank you, Estrid.” I thanked again, this time getting the name right. She gave me the key to the room and I headed upstairs to finally get some real rest.
I just took the opportunity to relax and think about everything that happened with that group. What exactly is this order that took all of these people? What are they trying to do? How did they get their hands on so many people? Why are they taking people’s magic? What’s the deal with that ash mage, Baltazar? What was that energy that blew the cell open? I have so many questions and not any answers.
As I rested, hours passed. A lot of that time was just taking it easy, I grabbed something to eat at the inn, while Estrid insisted I was the hero of Redwake for today and I didn’t need to pay, I paid anyway as I felt like any more handouts would have been taking advantage of her. I hadn’t realized the toll that fighting those order members in my condition took on me. I found that out as I took a casual walk around the town to look around. Everything was sore so walking around like that was a chore, It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle though. Eventually though, the hunting group of Redwake did return and I headed towards the shipyard.
I waited for them to get off their ships. Amidst the crowd, I was able to pick out the two that looked like the chief and lord of the town. One of the two, I knew to be the lord of the samerian claim, Lord Orgumleidi. He was a bald, tanned man with a scar over his left eye, his remaining eye was blue and he had a large graying braided beard not too far off of my own. He wore a large fur cloak and hunting gear with a large greataxe strapped onto his back.
Next to him stood who I assumed to be the chief with his large greatsword across his back. He was also a tanned man with brown eyes with a scar under his left, his hair was black while he also had the shockingly similar braided beard, I guess the look isn’t as uncommon as I’d thought. He wore a sleeveless hunting vest with a lot of tattoos down his arms to his wrist bands. On his shoulders he had silver pauldrons and a large animal skin cape down his back.
I walked over through the crowd of redwake hunters towards the two. As I drew closer to the two I also saw Estrid from hours before speaking with them. The chief then looked over towards me.
“Ah! If it isn’t the hero of the hour himself, Captain Magnusson of the Grand Navy!” the chief exclaimed, extending a hand out towards me. “Estrid told me all about what you did for us during our absence. I thank you on behalf of all of Redwake. You truly do prove the Keraxi people aren’t all rotten.”
“Ah, thank you… uh…” I started, realizing I had forgotten his name.
“Alfarin, Chief Alfarin.” he helped me remember. “And behind me is Lord Orgumleidi, current Lord of Redwake.”
“It is an honor, Captain Magnusson.” Lord Orgumleidi said with a bow. I nodded with a smile in acknowledgement.
“Anyway it was no worries at all. I saw the people in need and lended a hand as I feel anyone should.” I answered modestly.
“Nonsense! many could have gotten hurt while we were gone.” he says thankfully. “Though given nobody was here to alert the Navy I wonder why you came here? You have to have been here for a reason. So as a token of my gratitude, is there anything we can help you with?”
“Well I usually don’t like asking for help in return but, there’s a couple of things I could use a hand with.” I kinda rambled.
“Oh, Not a worry at all! You helped us and as such we’d be honored to help you in return.” Chief Alfarin answered wholeheartedly.
“Are you aware of any suspicious cult activities around the War Seas?”
“Hmm…” Chief Alfarin thought to himself long and hard, attempting to jog his memory. “I’m afraid not, We don’t get a lot of information here outside of the Jaws aside from our scouts we send to other islands.”
“Sadly, I haven’t heard anything either,” said Lord Orgumleidi. “Although, we do have a scout sent out to Frostmill who may have learned something or other.”
“That’s true.” Chief Alfarin noted before suggesting. “We don’t learn a lot about the greater War Seas secluded here in the Jaws, so we often send our scouts out to keep an eye on neighboring lands to keep us informed. Maybe Hallfrid would know more than we would.”
“Well it’s a better lead than I had before, thank you for the idea.” I thanked him politely.
“Not a problem at all, Magnusson, but you said there was another thing you needed help with?” the chief asked.
“Oh, right. On the way here, my caravel got pretty beaten up. The hull is badly damaged and the sails need to be replaced.” I said, omitting the details about the voyage.
“Ah, now that we can do something about!” he said happily. “Just let Elgfrothi know about the ship, and tell him I sent you. He’ll fix that up for you no time flat.”
“That’s great! Thank you, Chieftain!” I thanked him once again.
“The pleasure is all mine, Magnusson.” He smiled. “I wish you all the best in your search.”
Lord Orgumleidi nodded with a similar smile.
With that we parted ways and I headed over to the shipwright. I told him the situation and he understood the mission. He fixed the boat up nicely with no further holes in the hull. He switched the questionable sails of the Order for a set of flax sails. Though I did ask to keep the sails as they could be a clue to keep in mind.
Unfortunately, Redwake didn’t have much in the form of information but I’m glad I was here when I was, who knows what those pirates may have done. Plus maybe this scout on Frostmill may know more. As well Baltazar mentioned he was headed there, maybe he will have learned something, either way only time will tell. I board my newly repaired caravel and thank the shipwright for the repair, before releasing my sails and heading off for Frostmill Island.