Thirdmonth 27
A most pleasant day at sea. Gannen and I talked about Ao-Manasa for awhile. We also talked about my Order. He seems to believe we're some sort of terrorist organization. I told him that his perception of us is wrong, for the most part. I mean, there are some who choose to follow “Lord” Harsted on his barbaric guerrilla ambushing of any Diamond Throne agents he happens to come across. Most of us would much prefer solutions that involve less bloodshed. Sure, sometimes drastic measures are needed, but I would like to believe that we're a civilized Order.
Eventually, Captain Blank came below deck, followed by two of his child crewmen. He told me to find something for them to do, and then went back above deck. Methinks these children are wearing on Captain Blank's nerves a little. I had them inventory our supplies, even though I had just done so a week or so ago. That took quite a few hours, and when they had finished, I had to go over their work with them. I was a little annoyed to find we were two entire crates short of rum. When I confronted Captain Blank about the missing rum, he said that “sometimes these things happen,” and “perhaps my counting skills are lacking.” Twenty-four bottles of rum don't just disappear though. I suppose I will have to raise the estimated rate of consumption of rum for purposes of inventorying. I've always been accurate at predicting how quickly we'll go through our other stores, but the rum always seems to disappear faster than I expect.
All in all, it was a pretty typical day at sea.
~~~~~
Thirdmonth 28
I slept most of the morning. When I awoke, I found one of the children sitting on the floor next to my hammock, playing with the Aur Xica. I grabbed the sword away from the kid and informed her she was never to touch my things again. Is that so much to ask? It's not as though I have that much stuff. Especially compared to Soern. He has books and paper everywhere down here, as well as various magical trinkets. Captain Blank's pretty bad too. His quarters are filled with random, pointless junk (including quite a few empty rum bottles). Rellik's a bit more... efficient with his belongings. Then again, Rellik's efficient with pretty much everything he does.
I had evening watch duty, which was uneventful.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 1
Today should have been Gannen's trial date. Unfortunately for the Ao-Manasa Guards and Magistrates, he will regretfully be unable to attend. I do apologize for that, Ea-Shamar, I really do. It could not be helped though.
Gannen and I sparred today, hand to hand. It was rather fun, even though I got bruised up pretty badly. I admit it, he is better than I am.
Other than that, it was a boring day. Captain Blank says we will arrive at Pental tomorrow.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 2
I am NOT happy with this “Commodore Illiam.” NOT AT ALL. As we were approaching Pental, I noticed that the docks were on fire, which was probably because of the two hydra rampaging around. Probably. There was a ship fleeing the scene, flying black and red sails. It was the boat we had seen leaving Ao-Manasa some weeks ago (the ship Blank believed to be Illiam's).
I wanted to continue on immediately to Pental to help my Order kinsmen and the villagers I had sworn to protect, but Captain Blank had another plan. A plan which, for some reason, involved James jumping off the boat. After much protesting from me, we turned to chase the pirate boat. We were at full speed, but they were still getting farther away from us. They seemed to be getting away, when all of a sudden, there was this loud fwooshing sound, and Soern threw green magic at the other ship. It hit and exploded. Several figures on the deck collapsed, and the boat stopped moving. Now that it was dead in the water, the ship was quite easy to approach.
As we boarded the ship, we encountered no resistance. All the crewmen on deck were dead, except for the Captain. I approached him and asked, “Are you Illiam?”, to which he responded, “Are you an idiot?” Captain Blank confirmed that this man was not Illiam. After a little questioning, we found out his name was Captain Parrel, and that he worked for Commodore Illiam. I honestly didn't care who he was. He was now an enemy of my Order. I could have killed him then, but I decided to bring him back to Lord Morek for... questioning. I had Rellik tie him up, and then I dragged him over to the Ocean's Blade. Blank and Soern searched the ship and Gannen “took care” of the surving crewmen below deck (with the Aur Xica).
Blank decided we should take this ship to create a fleet. I argued that two ships isn't really a fleet, but he assured me that “Two is more than one, so that means it is a fleet.” He now insists on being called Commodore Blank, and has delegated the role of Captain on the new ship (The Fearful Lightning) to Soern. I am to remain Quartermaster of both vessels because I'm “the only one who gives a damn about supplies.” I'm sure the others would start “giving a damn” if we ran out of stuff.
We got a pretty good haul off of the Fearful Lightning and decided it would be a good time to go to Pental. As we approached Pental, the fires seemed to be staying contained to the dock buildings. Several knights were keeping the hydras from charging up the hill to the village, but they didn't seem to be making much progress in killing them. We docked (a difficult task as everything was on fire) and stormed the hydras. Gannen's lack of equipment wasn't a problem (he IS a Champion after all). He called quite an... interesting shield (which seemed to be made of of skulls), and a sword. It was a pretty scary battle. I nearly got lit on fire a couple times. We eventually took the hydras down and then Blank, Gannen, and I (dragging Parrel) made our way up the hill. About halfway to town, we ran into Lord Morek, who seemed pleased to see us, particularly after I introduced Gannen and turned over Parrel to him. We talked for a little while, when he asked me if I knew a man named Blank. I was about to introduce Blank to Morek, when Blank interrupted me and gave a short speech about how amazing, dashing, and incredible this Captain Blank fellow was. Honestly, his ego is borderline idiotic at time. Lord Morek took the hint that this man was Blank and handed over the letter. It was from Taevin Brightfind. Apparently his client wanted to know if any of the freelancers sent to the Tomb of Ozymandius had recovered a sword. We shall have to discover who this client is.
We were about to leave when Lord Morek asked me if we had recovered a map on Parrel's ship. When I told him he had not, he explained that it was a map to the “Island of the Jeweled Trees,” and that the pirates had stolen it. I turned my attention to Parrel and asked him about the map. He initially refused to betray Illiam, but I found with a little... gentle persuasion he was more than willing to be helpful. He told us about Illiam's secret pirate base. It's apparently magical and can only be found if one already knows its exact location, which he so kindly divulged to us. We then bid adieu to Lord Morek, leaving Parrel with him, and went back to the docks. Soern had identified the magical items we had taken from the Fearful Lightning. Of particular note was a veil. It was part of a set, and the next piece was in a secret pirate base on the Ao-Manasa island. I do believe in Gods, I just generally ignore them, as they do not personally affect me. However, I can't help but think some greater power, whether a God, the Green itself, or perhaps just some ancestral spirit is leading us to this pirate base. We should be careful.
I took the crew up to town to sell some of the items we had commandeered from the Fearful Lightning. I got a cut, as always, though I really don't have much need for gold. Soern, Blank, and Rellik spent a while in the village shopping while I took Gannen up to the Chapterhouse armory and got him equipped with a set of plate armour and a sword.
We left Pental midafternoon and set sail for Ao-Manasa. Commodore Blank wanted to talk to Taevin Brightfind, and Rellik was getting impatient about finding his mark. I suppose we'll have to figure out what to do with Gannen as we get closer to the city.
~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment