~~~~~
Fourthmonth 8 (Continued)
A mostly boring afternoon. We visited the Mevarin household in the hopes of speaking with Ratham about why he was telling lies to the guards. Someone must have intimidated him. Oh, wait, that was us. Someone must have intimidated him better. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Mevarin household, no one was home. I decided that Ea-Shamar might know where Ratham might be, so we decided to go see her. It turned out that she indeed did know where Ratham was. He was in protective custody. I asked if we could talk to him and she (very politely) refused our request. Typical.
We decided to go speak with Uthar Kalenil (from the list we found in the pirate's lair). We asked around the city and were directed to the University. It turns out he's a historian, as we had suspected. We arrived at the University library and I started talking to him. He asked me if I was new here, so I told him I came from the University in De-Shamod (not entirely a lie, as I did visit the University in De-Shamod once or twice). I asked a few questions about the Hor Quan, to which he gave vague, uninteresting answers. He directed us to some books and went back to his work. Soern read for a little while, not really learning much. I eventually decided I was bored and we left.
It was nearly sundown when we got underway for the Island of the Jeweled Trees. I'm already tired and I'm taking night watch duty tonight, so I suspect I will be really exhausted by tomorrow.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 9
Night watch was boring (though significantly easier now that I can see in the dark; thank you Alastor) At dawn, I climbed down onto the deck and was greeted by Commodore Blank. He asked me if I has seen anything overnight, particularly anything that appeared to be a tentacley monster full of hatred and evil. I told him I had seen one of those, but it turned out it was just looking for directions for another pirate ship and had gone on it's merry way after enjoying a quick game of dancing bones with me. Commodore Blank didn't see the humour of my story and requested that I stay out of his sight for the rest of the day, lest I feel his icy wrath. I reminded him that wrath is metaphorically thought of as firey, not icy, but this just made him glare at me with a very cold stare until I went below deck. Note to self: Commodore Blank has a great sense of humour, except when it comes to krakens and ice.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 10
Half of the crew was ill today. Blank suspects spoiled food. I suppose that's probably the case, though I feel fine. I spent the rest of the day tending to the sick. I also enlisted the help of a couple crewmen to look through the Ocean Blade's stores, tossing overboard a few things that appeared rotten or contaminated. I sent a message to Soern informing him that he should have some crewmen do the same.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 11
Most everyone is recovered from yesterday's sudden illness. I haven't been sleeping much lately. Between watch duty, quartermaster duty, and nursing the sick, I've had precious little time to fit sleep into my schedule. Today was more of the same, really. I took daywatch and took the rest of the night off.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 12
Mark and I made another wager again. He says we'll arrive at the Island of the Jeweled Trees tomorrow. After consulting with Blank (who, looking at his map, assured me were at least two days away still), I decided to take him up on his little bet. I figure I have got to win sometime.
Also, it was Moon's Eve today, which Commodore Blank reminded me of once or twice... a minute... all day. Silly witches.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 13
First off, we did arrive at the Island of the Jeweled Trees today, so Mark won our bet.
It was a very busy and tiring day. We disembarked, leaving the young crewmen in charge of the boats (with orders to set sail if anything from shore threatened them). We then began heading up a cliff and were waylaid by no less than twenty crabs. We almost met our doom, but I managed to heroically hold them off until Soern could cast a massive acid explosion thing (which destroyed my idea of having a crab bake after we were done with our business here).
We continued up the cliff and into the jungle (which was indeed full of crystal trees). We then found the most peculiar red birds. They were quite pretty. Unfortunately, they were crazy-magical-annoying and were accompanied by two giant snakes. The battle was intense. Mark got grappled by one of the snakes, which then proceed to almost squeeze the life out of him. By angels' wings I managed to hit the snake with a massive, massive strike, cleaving it's head clean off and nearly dropping the Aur Xica due to the force of the blow. The Aur Xica seemed quite pleased with me (for once).
After the battle, Soern cast a detection spell to look for Gannen. He said that Gannen was farther up the path, so we continued on our way. We finally reached a clearing, surrounded by a curved glass wall with an opening. We stepped through the glass wall and noticed Gannen and Monala standing in the centre of six crystalline trees. I drew the Aur Xica and tried to charge Monala, but I hit an invisible wall of magic before I even got within 30 feet of her. She then (snidely) asked us what had taken us so long to get here and laughed at us. Then she kissed Gannen. Yes, she kissed him. I really hate Monala. I think I might have said something along the lines of “Bitter suns to you, you gob-friended maggot!” as she teleported away, though I can't be entirely sure. I was rather angry at the time. Fortunately for me, Blank didn't have time to tease my about my lovely vernacular, as the glass wall we had just walked through morphed into four glass golems. I put the energy of my anger towards Monala into the battle and we were triumphant (though I will admit that Soern's acid pits were far more useful than my fighting abilities in this particular battle).
After the battle, we went to inspect the circle of trees (the magical barrier had magically disappeared... I hate magic). We collected about 40 jewels from the trees, noting that they looked similar to the egg-sized gem we'd found at the Temple of the Hor Quan. We then returned to the ships, finding the crew safe and sound, much to my relief.
I hate Monala.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 14
I feigned illness this morning to get out of crew duties. I'm really too depressed to be of much use today anyway, so I just laid around in my hammock most of the day.
I'm sorry I lost you, Gannen. I will find you. I hope you don't doubt me. I care more than you even know, perhaps more than I even should.
I hate Monala.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 15
I felt bad about being lazy all day yesterday, so I ended up getting up at dusk last night and taking night watch. As usual, nothing to report.
I hate Monala.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 16
I talked with the Aur Xica for a while today. I asked him if I was doing the right thing with all of this. His answer was, “Well, you've been killing things, so yes, you are definitely taking the correct course of action.” Typical answer for a sword, I suppose.
I hate Monala.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 17
One of the kids fell overboard today in a patch of bad weather. I jumped into the water to save her, but all her flailing and grabbing at me nearly drowned us both. Fortunalely, Blank tossed us a rope and I managed to get both of us back onto the boat. Thankfully, she was perfectly okay once she calmed down and dried off.
I hate Monala.
~~~~~
Fourthmonth 18
The girl I pulled out of the water yesterday braided me a bracelet. I told her that she really didn't have to give me anything, but she was quite insistent. She even told me that I was “Almost as amazing as Commodore Blank,” which, I suppose, is her idea of a great compliment.
I hate Monala.
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