Sigrid's Journal 23: The Sun Will Rise Again

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 5

It was too late. Monala was too powerful. She floated above us in a massive stone chamber, directing bursts of energy from a giant, glowing pillar streaked with darkness in the centre of the room. One by one she struck them down. Soern, Paerk, Mark. I charged towards her, but stopped short when I reached the edge of the platform I was on.

Monala laughed as she drew more power off of the pillar. She sent the energy spiralling outwards, killing Jocelyn, Blank, and Rellik. Gannen stood at my side, the last of my compatriots. I frantically glanced around, trying to find a way to get to her. I barely noticed the bolt of energy Monala had just thrown at me, but Gannen had. He pushed me out of the way just in time and was hit, full-force. I was thrown to the side and hit the ground hard. It barely hurt though. It was as if my senses were dulled. Gannen laid on the ground, unmoving. I pulled myself over to Gannen, looking down at him. “Wake up, Gannen. Please wake up...” I pleaded. I cradled his head in my arms and brushed his hair out of his face. It was too late. He was gone. No. No. No. It wasn't supposed to end like this. They were all dead. All dead.

I stood up and faced Monala. She was laughing hysterically. I used a dimensional door and pulled myself to her. I stood only feet away from her and lifted the Aur Xica. She lifted her hands and hit me with a blast of energy. I don't remember dropping the Aur Xica, but I vaguely remember the loud clang it made as it hit the ground. I stumbled backwards off the platform. I was dead. I just didn't realize it yet. And now I was falling. Falling through nothing. Falling towards nothing. It would be over even before I even hit the water.

I jerked, suddenly finding myself in my hammock on the Ocean's Blade. I looked around. Mark lay sleeping in his hammock. Jocelyn was close by in a bedroll. Gannen slept soundly near the trapdoor. They were alive. It was a dream.

I went above deck. It was dark and the storm raged on. Someone grabbed my shoulder. I quickly turned, drawing the Aur Xica. I nearly attacked the person before I realized it was Blank. He took a step back.

“What is this mutiny?” he asked.

“You startled me,” I said.

“Apparently. Go wake the others. We're going back to Xanadu.”

I hesitated. “Shouldn't we at least wait for daylight?”

“Do you think daylight's really going to matter in this storm, or, you know, in a CAVE?!” Blank demanded.

“I suppose not,” I sighed, “I'll go get everyone up.”

Everyone gathered on the deck.

“We should do a ceremony to the god of kicking Monala's ass,” Paerk said.

“Jubilexis?” Soern asked.

“You've been enlightened as well? The let us pray to Jubilexis,” Paerk said.

“Wait, wait, wait, who is Jubilexis?” I asked.

“The god of kicking Monala's ass. Don't you pay attention?” Paerk said.

“There isn't a god of kicking Monala's ass,” I said.

“Of course there is. We just weren't enlightened about him until now.”

Blank grinne. “That is... well... that is the most brilliant thing I've ever heard! And I always thought biter society had nothing to offer the world.”

I'm not sure if I believe in made up Faen gods, but I really couldn't say no to the possibility of divine help, so I joined the others in their ceremony. Though I did reserve most of my prayers for my patron god, Halas, whom I have long neglected. Perhaps regaining some faith wouldn't be such a bad thing for me.

And so we headed back through the storm to Xanadu. As we arrived back in the harbour, an argument broke out about which path we should take to Monala this time.

“Well, back into the water we go,” Soern said.

“Yeah, the zombie-infested underwater tunnel is definitely our best path,” I said, sarcastically.

“You just don't want to go back into the water,” Soern commented.

“Maybe,” I muttered.

“There's probably zombies everywhere. Why don't we just go down that way?” Paerk pointed to the staircase which Monala had descended.

“If we just follow her, what was the whole point of going to the underwater tunnel earlier?” Mark asked.

“To almost get eviscerated by giant undead monsters?” I suggested.

“Well, trying to be sneaky had been a good idea. But that was hours ago. I don't think we can really sneak up on her anymore,” Paerk said.

“I really don't think stealth would have even worked in the first place. What with her complete magical control of Xanadu and all,” Soern added.

“Let's just go down the stairs,” Gannen said.

I sighed, “We may as well at this point.”

“It's settled then. We're going down the stairs,” Blank said authoritatively.

I opened my mouth to call Blank's authority into question, but decided it would be a pointless argument.

And so, we descended down the staircase. My heart was racing as we walked further and further downwards into the darkness. The stairwell seemed to narrow as we spiralled downwards. Eventually the tight stairwell opened up into a large room. Taking a few steps into the room, I noticed a large pit in the centre of the room, with stairs going down into it. We would be going deeper into the spider's lair, it seemed. Along the back wall was a pit. I started going down the stairs to closer examine the door, but was stopped by Jocelyn.

“You're just going to march down into the pitch black pit?” she asked.

I looked into the pit again. It wasn't pitch black. It was shadowy, and strangely drained of all colour, but it certainly wasn't pitch black. “I can see well enough,” I announced, before continuing into the pit. I was followed by Soern's creepy glowing orb and the rest of my companions. There was something written on the door. What exactly it was, I wasn't sure, since I couldn't read it. Soern and Paerk spent a lot of time scrutinizing the inscription, scrawling notes onto parchment, and discussing. I decided not to get involved with the door. I know what I'm good at, and what I'm not good at. Diplomacy? Certainly a strength. Alternative forms of diplomacy involving weapons? Also one of my strong suits. Decoding cryptic riddles on doors? Not so much.

The inscription melted away into the door by some magical force. Soern seemed pleased with himself.

“See, that wasn't so hard,” he said.

I waited a moment, staring at the still-closed portal.“So, is the door supposed to open now or something?” I asked.

“Well, uh, actually, I think we need a key,” he said.

“A key?” Blank questioned. Soern pointed to a keyhole in the door that I had not previously seen.

“Well, where do we get this key?” Jocelyn asked.

“I think we already have it,” I said. Indeed, I suspected we might need this key at some point, ever since Gannen implied it might be important way back while he was still in prison. “It was in that box.”

“Well, where's the box?” Soern asked.

“Commodore Blank has it,” I said, “But the key's not in the box any more. The key's around my neck, where it's been since we first found it.” I pulled the leather cord the key was on off over my head and tried to hand the key to Soern.

“Oh, no, I'm not opening the door,” he said, “I don't know what's waiting for us on the other side.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, you'd probably just blast acid first and ask questions later.”

“One does not 'blast acid.' It is clear to me you lack a grasp on even the simple fundamentals of magic.”

“Haha, Sigrid can't do magic! It's like she's illiterate!” Blank interjected.

“Oh, leave her be,” Gannen said. “Magic isn't the be-all and end-all of life. There are things... more important...” his voice drifted off, as if he was lost in thought.

I looked at him, not speaking, scarcely moving. All of a sudden, Mark snatched the key from my hand. “Let's just get on with this,” he said, impatiently.

Mark opened the door into my nightmare. Well, the room was the exact same one that had been in my nightmare, complete with the black-veined energy pillar in the centre. We walked into the chamber. There was no denying it, this was the room from my dream. The setting was the same, but the outcome would not be. It could not be. I would not let them die.

Monala sat on a throne on the far end of the chamber, laughing maniacally. Seeing her there brought up a homicidal rage within me. Screw bringing her back alive. Screw what Ea-Shamar wanted. Screw the whole Diamond Throne for all I cared. I was going to kill Monala.

“How nice of you to come,” Monala said, “Gentlemen, please see to our guests.” And with that we were beset by fire elementals. They swarmed us as Monala continued to talk. “How nice when a plan finally comes together and all the loose ends are, shall we say, dealt with. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.”

“You see,” she continued, “you are my last inconveniences. Toying with you has been such fun, but I really don't have time for distractions any more. Ruling the world is going to be a full-time profession. I'll have to deal with keeping my zombie hordes in tip-top shape and controlling the weather. I simply won't have time to play with you children anymore.”

I continued fighting off the fire elementals as I responded, “We're here to unravel your plans, Monala. And even if we fail, my Lord will send troops. You will not win.”

Monala laughed. “Ah, yes, Morek. I suspect he will be sending troops soon. I'll be needing them to defend MY new empire, after all.” She stood up from her throne and magically floated up into the room.

“You intend to zombify my knight sisters and brothers?” I asked.

“Well, eventually, I suppose, but why go to the trouble of killing them when Morek will send them fresh and living for me?” she asked.

I cut through another fire elemental. “Are you suggesting Lord Morek would yield to your command?”

“Oh, no, no, no, dear Sigrid,” she said, “What I'm suggesting is that he already HAS yielded to my command.”

I froze. A fire elemental charged me, but Commodore Blank blasted it with icefire. “You're lying!” I yelled at Monala.

“Then explain to me how I discovered your truename.”

I had no answer. I ran to the edge of the platform avoiding Soern's magical walls and acid pits. I was cursing and screaming at Monala. She simply laughed, “Betrayal... Such horrific betrayal... and that is the sound of your spirit breaking. A sound almost as pleasant to my ears as this will be.”

“As what will be?” I asked suspiciously.

“The sound of your heart breaking, of course,” looking somewhere behind me, she said, “kill the mage, he's beginning to aggravate me.”

I turned around just in time to witness Gannen cutting Soern down. Gannen... I didn't understand. Why? I turned back to Monala. She shrugged. “He works for me now.” I looked back at Gannen.

“Why?” I asked, “Why?”

“She has my brother,” he said.

“But, why... why couldn't... why didn't you tell me?”

He didn't have a chance to answer. The door we entered from opened suddenly and in waltzed K'max's.

“Ah, K'max's, so nice of you to join us. I suspect Mixastomere sends her blessings?” I scowled. So the great wyrm had betrayed us as well. K'max's nodded. Monala grinned. “Anyway,” she continued, “I'm terribly sorry about leaving you all so utterly hopeless. But you didn't really expect to be able to defeat me here, in the heart of my power, did you? I mean, this is the centre of the Empire, where the Aur Xica was first forged. My power here is immense. You were doomed from the moment you came after me.” She laughed maniacally again.“Now, K'max's would you please see to our guests? It seems my fire elementals were... unsatisfactory.”

K'max's lifted a blade, but he didn't get more than a step in the room before he was completely cut down by Rellik. For a moment, I envied the Mojh. The battle raged on, but I was lost in thought. No attachments, no betrayal, after all. No caring, no pain. But no pain also means no passion. No love. Could I live like that? No. I couldn't. I'm a champion. I'm a runechild. I'm a being of passion, of emotion. It is everything I am. To turn away from that, just because it hurt... I couldn't do that. I could never do that. Not without losing my entire sense of self. That passion is the forge of my being. If I was to survive today, I would have to draw deeper from those fires, not taint them with apathy.

All these thoughts about fires and forges drew my eye to the pillar in the centre of the room. Could it really be that simple? I looked at the Aur Xica, and then back at the pillar again. This cursed blade was forged here, a symbol of the tainted empire it once defended. What if?

“Gannen!” I yelled, running to his side. “You have to help me, we have to end this. Now.”

He hesitated. “Sigrid... I...”

“For the world, for your brother, for me... this has to end. It has to. Please, Gannen.”

“She'll kill my brother,” he said.

“If you don't stop her, she'll probably kill him anyway, along with me. One last stand, Gannen. I need you,” I pleaded.

He nodded. “Okay.” I grabbed his hand and pulled us through a dimensional door to the pillar. Still holding his hand tightly, I lifted my other arm over my head, about to strike the pillar.

“Wait!” Gannen yelled, “Are you crazy? The death energy will kill you. Give me the sword.”

“Hey, uh, guys, I'm not so sure this is a good idea,” the Aur Xica interrupted.

Ignoring it, I told Gannen, “I won't be responsible for your death.”

“And you expect me to be responsible for yours? I'm a champion of death. I think I can handle it.”

I handed him the sword. He lifted it high and swung it into the pillar. There was a deafening crack and a burst of blue light. We were both thrown back to the edge of the platform. I opened my eyes and looked over at Gannen. He looked back at me. He was alive, though... shining somewhat with a mild blue light. In his hand he held the hilt of the Aur Xica, all that remained. I glanced at the pillar. It glowed with a pure blue light now; the taint had been removed.

Monala did not seem impressed. “This... could be a problem,” she said. No sooner than she said it was she struck by a blast of ice from Blank. She plummeted downwards onto the stone. Her reign was over. There was a new powerbearer. Gannen. His shining had died down some, but there was still power coming off of him. Power that Paerk realized gave him control of the weather.

Monala wasn't dead. We checked on her soon after we checked on Soern, who also wasn't dead. Jocelyn had managed to keep him alive with some magical healing roses. The only fatalities were the fire elementals and K'max's. K'max's hadn't stood a chance. Once Rellik gets your scent, you're doomed.

We bound Monala and headed back aboveground. As we emerged from the stairwell, I looked up at the sky. The stars shone brightly, finally free from the storm clouds which had hidden them only hours ago. On the eastern horizon, I could see just the faintest bit of colour, the promise of a morning sun. I watched the horizon with anticipation.

Gannen walked up close to me. “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

“You nearly killed my friend. You betrayed my trust, Gannen.”

“I screwed up.”

“You could say that.”

He sighed. “I'm sorry. For the longest time, my brother was all I had. We lost our parents young. He was... like my shadow when we were younger.”

“I just wish you could have told me.”

“I do too,” he said, “I was afraid. For my brother, yes, but not just that.”

“What then?” I asked.

“I'm just not used to... this.”

I looked away and looked back at the impending sunrise. “I'm not either. Maybe... maybe we can work it out together,” I suggested.

“I'd like that,” he said.

“I would too.” I watched as the sunlight flowed over the horizon. It was the first dawn I had paid attention to in months. In some ways, the past three months have been like one solid night. The longest night of my life. Perhaps now, all the chaos and turmoil will be over. Monala's dealt with. My living nightmare of her is over. No matter how dark the night may seem, there will always be a dawn. It's time to keep living. It's time to move on. To start a new day.

Gannen leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “I told you we'd survive this and see the sun again.”

I smiled, “I love you, Gannen.”

“I love you too, Sigrid.”

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 22: Swimming with the Fishes

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4 (Continued again)

Arriving in Xanadu was strange. The city is a complicated web of stone platforms, blocks and pillars. Some of these stones are magically suspended. Soern seemed quite fascinated with it. I suppose I may have been too, if not for the fact that magic bothers me. We really weren't there to sightsee though. We made our way as far into the city as we could on the ship before docking at a harbour-like place. From there we continued walking towards the centre of the city. Standing on a large, central pillar was Monala. I glared at her and tried to pull myself through a dimensional door to her, but it didn't work. I suspect she was too far away. After that I tried a more direct approach. I charged towards her. Well, actually, I tried to charge towards her. I didn't get very far before Gannen and Jocelyn decided to hold me back. Monala looked at us, laughed, and then descended down into the pillar, presumably down some sort of staircase. I struggled against Gannen and Jocelyn's grasps.

“Let me go!” I yelled.

“If we let you go, are you going to take off?” Gannen asked.

Impatiently, I repeated, “Let me go.”

“Not until I know you're not going to take off.”

“Just let me go.”

Jocelyn and Gannen looked at eachother. Jocelyn shrugged and they both released me. I did take off, drawing the Aur Xica. I only got about ten feet when I stopped. I was angry at Monala, but charging off to my death wasn't going to do any good. I cursed at no one in particular and struck a stone wall with the Aur Xica.

“What the... don't do that!” it yelled at me.

“Shut up, you cursed weapon.” I took a deep breath, regaining my composure. Turning back to the group, I noticed they were all staring at me with concerned looks on their faces. Well, Jocelyn, Paerk, Soern, Mark, and Gannen had concerned looks on their faces. Rellik had his usually homicidal expression, and Blank simply looked annoyed.

“Are you done with your little tantrum now?” Blank asked, impatiently. I didn't answer him, but I glared at him and re-sheathed the Aur Xica.

“So, are we going to follow her?” Jocelyn asked. It was a good question. No one immediately answered it.

“That's just what she wants us to do,” commented Blank, “which means we should something else entirely. Catch her all unsuspecting-like.”

“I doubt we're going to catch her off-guard in her own lair,” Soern added, “I mean, she's basically taken this place over. She probably knows what's going on all throughout the city.”

“We shouldn't just march on down that staircase and knock on her front door,” Mark said, “We can at least try to be stealthy.”

“What, you think there's some back door we can sneak in through?” I asked.

Blank grinned. “Hahahah... this is just like that time we tried to sneak into Sa-Follen's house to kill him.”

I looked at him, “No it's not... it's nothing like that at all.”

“No, no, no, it is, you see? Sa-Follen was corrupting the guard; Monala's corrupting the weather. Now we're going to sneak in the back door to go kill Monala, just like we were going to kill Sa-Follen.”

“That... doesn't even make sense,” Jocelyn commented. “Besides, shouldn't we bring Monala back for trial or something?"

“Of course it makes sense. You just weren't there the first time,” Blank waved her off, “I suppose we could bring her back alive, but wouldn't it be easier to just kill her now? Or, even better, we get down there and find out that Gannen already killed her, just like Sa-Follen!”

“You do remember that Gannen isn't actually the Yellow Rose Killer?” I asked.

“Details, details. Lets go find the back door and go deal with Monala.”

“Yes, because we're just going to randomly find some back entranceway,” I said, annoyed.

“Well, there's one underwater, if that helps,” Paerk chimed in.

“What?” I asked.

“A water spirit told me,” Paerk said, “There's a passageway into the city under the water.”

“Look at that! The little biter's actually useful!” Blank exclaimed.

“There's one problem with that,” I pointed out, “We don't breathe water.”

“Well, I can,” Mark said.

“Oh, yes, that will work splendidly. Mark will go in the back way and deal with Monala all by himself. What a wonderful idea!” I replied, sarcastically.

“Well, there is a spell that will allow us to breathe water,” Soern told us.

“A spell? Perfect. Let's cast the spell, swim to the passage, sneak up on Monala and BAM! We hit her in the back of the head, drag her back to Ea-Shamar and collect our reward,” Blank enthusiastically said.

“Exactly!” Paerk responded.

“Don't you think it will be a bit more complicated than that?” I asked.

“Why would it be?” Blank replied.

It was at that moment that Blank was, indeed, completely insane. The more I think about it, the more I realize that everyone on this crew is, as well. We're all a bunch of eccentric misfits, not really belonging anywhere.

There's Soern, so preoccupied with his magics and his books the he sometimes misses out on the rest of the world. Blank is the lone pirate, doing what he wants to do all the time without caring about what is proper. Mark is one of the least personable people I have ever met, more fishlike than human. Paerk's only interest seems to be plants, at the expense of everyone else around him. I've spent my whole life searching for a purpose, only to have a purpose find me. Then there's Gannen, with his mysterious past and swirling destiny of lineage. Then we have Rellik, who I don't even need to comment on.

Yet somehow, we ended up together, and it's fit. And now, here we are. The only thing standing between Monala and the world is us. If we don't stop her now, it will only be a matter of time before her plan of necromantic world domination goes into full effect.

We decided to go forth to Paerk's hidden underwater entrance. After being enchanted with water breathing, I dove into the sea, not quite trusting the magic to work. I dipped my face underwater and took a tentative breath. It wasn't painful, but it felt strange. The water exerted more force on the inside of my chest than air did. It was quite unnatural, but I didn't feel like I was drowning, so I supposed it was probably okay. After a seemingly long swim (which honestly might have been shorter for everyone else without me; swimming isn't my strong suit), we emerged into the air-filled passageway. I sat on the ground coughing, trying to get the strange pressure feeling out of my chest. We all dried off as best we could while looking around at the room we were in. The walls were covered in intricate carvings not unlike the ones at Ozymandius's tomb. It seems so long ago, but looking back through this journal, I realized that we entered Ozymandius's tomb three months ago to the day. It's amazing how much can change in three months.

The room we were in connected to a passgeway, which we followed. Unfortunately, we didn't get far when we were ambushed by giant undead monsters. No one was seriously injured, but several of us were moderately injured enough that continuing on might have been a bad idea. This didn't deter Blank, who was eager to press onwards.

“We're not going to defeat Monala by resting,” he protested.

“We're not going to defeat Monala at all if we don't rest,” Soern pointed out as I bandaged him up.

“I agree,” I added, “There's no need to be hasty.”

“But that's what we do best!” Blank said.

“Look, why don't we just rest here and figure out what we're going to do,” Jocelyn suggested.

“Monala knows we're here. We can just fall asleep. Unless your intention is to never wake up again,” I said.

“Always the pessimist. Why don't you shut up once in awhile? We don't have any proof that Monala knows we're here anyway,” Mark argued.

“Yeah, well, why don't you shut up, Mark. No one wants to listen to you anyway,” I replied.

Mark glared at me.

“Oh blurty-blurty-blur,” Blank broke the silence, “I am your Commodore. You should both be following my lead anyway.”

“Yeah, following your lead. Right off a cliff maybe,” Jocelyn commented.

“Hey, that's unfair,” Blank said, before mumbling under his breath, “Not like there are any cliffs here anyway...”

I glanced over at Gannen, who had thus remained silent.”

“What do you think we should do, Gannen?” I asked.

He shook his head, clearly giving me a 'leave me out of this' look.

Soern finally chimed in, “Let's just go back to the Ocean's Blade to rest and regroup. We'll at least be a little safer out on the water.”

I sighed. I knew this was probably the best course of action, but I wasn't exactly thrilled to be getting back into the water again. We returned to the room at the water's edge. I looked down at the dark, foreboding seawater. I really didn't want to do this again. Gannen walked up beside me and reassuringly held my hand. It was a subtle gesture, but it made a world of difference. I slipped into the water without a care, my mind preoccupied with the short, silent connection we had made.

The ascent was seemed quicker than the descent had been. I think perhaps I was more eager to be swimming towards the surface than I had been swimming to the dark depths of the sea. We climbed aboard the Ocean's Blade and set sail, trying to get some distance between us and Monala. We met up with our crewmembers on the Fearful Lightning, and decided to call it a night. Gannen offered to take first watch and I immediately volunteered to help him, even though I was entirely ready to sleep at that point.

I wish I could write that Gannen and I spent our watch together talking about profound things like life and death and faith and love, but that wasn't the case. I suppose there's not much to say until after we get this business with Monala sorted out. I've spent much of my time this watch writing.

It's unfortunate that Monala still stands as a barrier between Gannen and I, even now that we're not physically separated anymore. I hope once Monala is dealt with once and for all, we can begin a new chapter in our lives. We woke up Jocelyn and Mark before calling it a night. I will be glad to be done with this.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 21: Beginning of the End

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4 (Continued)

A most fascinating afternoon. I was woken up by a more-hyper-than-usual James (which I hadn't previously thought was possible) yelling, “Quartermaster Halstead! Quartermaster Halstead! Land ho! Well, not really land, but stones... giant stones.... Anyway, Commodore Blank wants you on deck!”

I woke up and looked at him,“James... you know you're allowed to call me Sigrid...”

“Yes, Quartermaster Halstead.”

I started to respond, but felt it would probably be easier just to let this one go. “Go tell Blank I'll be up there in a second.”

I laid there on my hammock, looking at the deckboards above me. This was it then. This was Xanadu. I sat up in my hammock, stretching. I jumped down onto the floor when Gannen came down below deck. I froze,staring at him, not entirely sure what to say. He looked back at me for a moment, before awkwardly interrupting the silence. “Er... Blank says we're at Xanadu. I wanted to... well, you know, make sure you knew or whatever...”

“Yeah... James told me... but, thanks,” I smiled at Gannen. He gave me a small smile back before quickly looking away.

“There was something I needed to talk to you about... well, you—plural, like you, Jocy, Blank and Mark.”

“Shall we, then?” I asked, motioning towards the ladder. He nodded and we made our way up to the deck.

Once up on deck, Gannen pulled Blank, Mark, Jocelyn and I aside and warned us not to trust the Aur Xica. He told us that it “wasn't good.” He quoted Monala, claiming she said the sword was bad. Apparently she was also amused at the possibility it was manipulating us.

After Gannen talked to us, we confronted the Aur Xica about these allegations. It claimed that Monala was lying. It went on and on about how she was obviously trying to get us to mistrust it, on account of it being our only connection to the Hora Quan or whatever. Truth-be-told, I side with Gannen on this matter. I have never trusted that sword, or any intelligent item for that matter. A sword's job is to kill what I want dead, not to chit-chat with me.

Taking the cursed blade with me, I climbed up to the crow's nest and we continued sailing towards the city. As it grew closer, I had this strange feeling that someone—or something—was watching us. I would see little blips of movement that varied from the usual ebb and flow of the ocean, but when I would try to get a closer look, the movement would be gone. Just as I thought about calling down to Blank about it, a giant sea monster emerged from the water!

“Octopus!” I cried out.

“No...!” Commodore Blank yelled, “It's not an octopus... it's a Kraken!”

I leapt down from the crow's nest. Armour-less, it was much easier than it normally was, and I landed quite gracefully. Running to the starboard side of the ship, I watched as the Kraken swung its massive arms about, grazing the side of the Ocean's Blade. The boat rocked violently, knocking me backwards into Mark. Pushing me away from him, he ran up to the beast and attacked. I pulled myself back up and followed suit, leaning precariously over the railing as I hacked away at a tentacle. Gannen and Mark stood on either side of me, fending off the beast as well.

The creature violently flailed about. One of its tentacles caught me hard in the ribcage, causing me to fall into the water. Another tentacle swung down towards me. Instinctively, I raised my arms to block it. The Kraken's arm hit the Aur Xica and my summoned shield with enough force to shove me underwater. I was surprised that I had managed to hold on to the Aur Xica, and I hadn't remembered calling a shield at all, but I suppose it is as Lord Morek often tells me; I have good instincts in battle.

Though I have those “good instincts,” I was seriously thrown off-balance by the Kraken. I hovered in the water, not entirely sure which way was up, rather disoriented. The seawater stung my eyes as I opened them and looked around. There was water all around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a steadily building orb of light. It grew brighter and brighter as I swam towards it. Was this some sort of divine sign? My head hit the surface and I gasped in a mouthful of air mixed with saltwater. I glanced up at where the light had been and realized Blank had been summoning a burst of icefire, which he now released at the Kraken. I decided that Commodore Blank was probably not a sign from the gods, though I suspect he might think that he's a god.

Looking back at the side of the boat, I saw Mark continuing to beat on the Kraken. Gannen, however, had stopped attacking and only made glances at the creature when a tentacle strayed too close to him. Instead of putting his full concentration into the battle, he appeared to be scanning the water beneath the Kraken. Catching sight of me, he tossed a rope in the water. I grabbed it and swam towards the boat. Gannen pulled me aboard. I spent a moment coughing up inhaled seawater. Gannen stood there, staring at me with a concerned look on his face.

“Fight, damn it!” I yelled at him, annoyed. He returned to the side of the ship and slashed at the Kraken. I caught my breath and joined him. Before I even got a single attack in, however, a massive blast of fire emanated from Soern's hands, utterly decimating the monster. Its corpse slowly sank back into the depths from whence it came.

“Hahaha!” Blank laughed maniacally, “Take that, Kraken! Never again will you terrorize the seas!” Blank's ecstatic mood didn't last long though. Mere moments after he declared the oceans safe from the kraken, the awful beast re-emerged.

“Zombie...” Gannen muttered, “Zombie Kraken... who would do...” he paused for a moment before angrily growling, “Monala....”

“What is this foul magic? Is this some cosmic joke to punish the great Commodore Blank?” Blank asked, his voice a bit shakier than normal. I could tell that he was afraid. I was as well.

Regaining his composure, Gannen loudly announced, “It's a zombie! We have to kill it!”

The creature reared. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. A burst of warm, glowing light streamed down from high above the Kraken. It flowed over my skin, restrengthening me. The light seemed to have a profoundly different effect on the Kraken, which flailed angrily. I was confused for a moment, but then remembered the dichotomy of the Green and the Dark. I didn't have much time to ponder magical laws though. The undead monster was angry, and it was taking its anger out on our ships.

We continued our assault on the Kraken. We were chipping away at it, but the going was slow. That is, until Soern threw some sort of paralytic magic at it. Once it wasn't flailing madly at us, it was much easier to slay once and for all.

Once the Kraken sunk back into the water, everyone was still and silent, as if waiting to see if it would re-emerge. When it didn't, everyone relaxed. Gannen walked over to me, asking me, “Are you okay?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but didn't know what to say, so instead, I just kissed him. I broke away from him, and he just stared at me with a rather stunned look on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, when Blank interrupted, completely ruining the moment.

“Hahaha!!! Sigrid kissed Gannen!” He laughed. I glared at him which didn't seem to deter his laughter at all. “That's absolutely hilarious!”

Ignoring Blank, I turned back to Gannen, who looked back at me, silently. Whatever he had been about to say will remain unsaid I guess. Turning away, I looked out at Xanadu. The stone city appeared dark and forboding, and suddenly I knew.

I knew Monala was standing in that city, staring out at our ships on the horizon. I knew she knew we were coming. I knew she was waiting for us. I closed my eyes and I saw her standing a stone platform. I saw her as if she was standing right in front of me. She saw me too. She looked right at me and smiled. I opened my eyes and found that I was still on the Ocean's Blade. I had seen Monala because she had wanted me to see her. I took a deep breath and realized that I may never leave this place. Death was a distinct possibility.

“We might not survive this,” I said.

“Excuse me?” Jocelyn questioned.

I sighed, “There's a distinct possibility that we might die here. But we have to fight. We have to try. We can't just let Monala win without a fight.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that we might not die?” Gannen interrupted, “Why are you acting like we're marching off to our deaths?”

“We might die,” I protested.

“We also might live, Sigrid. Anything worth dying for is also worth living for.”

I looked at him for a moment, before responding, “What an odd thing for a Champion of Death to say.”

“Maybe so,” he admitted.

Just at that moment, Soern called over from the Fearful Lightning, “Hey! What's our plan here?”

We all convened on the Ocean's Blade and decided to leave Blank's henchmen and my squires on the Fearful Lightning, away from Xanadu, and hopefully away from danger. They have strict orders to go back to Ao-Manasa and Pental if we don't return in one week's time. If we die in Xanadu, both the Diamond Throne and the Order must be warned about Monala. After we said goodbye to our young crew members, we ventured off towards Xanadu on the Ocean's Blade.

I stood in the crow's nest, watching as the ominous city grew closer. I heard someone climbing up to join me. Without even turning to look, I knew who it was. Gannen. I continued staring off into the storm, scarcely moving.

“You can go dry off and warm off if you'd like. I can take watch,” he offered.

I shook my head. “Thank you, but no. I like being outside, even when the sun's nowhere to be seen.” I looked skyward for a moment, and then added, “I don't think I'm ever going to see the sun again.”

“Okay Sigrid, that's enough,” he said with a tone of impatience in his voice, “You're a knight. Is this mood you're in any way to go into a battle? State-of-mind is incredibly important. I'm sure you know that.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you doing this to yourself? Are you trying to make yourself less afraid of dying?”

“I'm not afraid to die,” I stated adamantly.

“Yes, you are. You're absolutely terrified. Why, though? You've seen combat before. Every time I've seen you in combat, you've been completely calm. Why is this different?”

“Because for the first time in my life, I feel like I might not be able to handle an impending battle. Monala's powerful. Last time we met,one touch from her and I became her marionette,” I paused. “I fight a lot, but I'm always confident. Now, I'm not so sure.” Looking out to to sea, I added, “I really don't want to die. I do want to see the sun again. And besides, we still need to talk about... things.”

“Things. Yeah. We will talk, Sigrid, just not now. Later, after Xana...”

“What if there is no 'after Xanadu', Gannen?” I interrupted. “What if 'now' is all we have?”

“This isn't the end. We WILL survive this,” Gannen proclaimed.

“I hope you're right. I want to be alone. You're on watch now,” I told him as I climbed down the crow's nest.

I've taken a break to decompress and to rest. I don't feel much better though. Xanadu calls to me now. I hope this isn't the end.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 20: How You Wanna Feel

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 1

I didn't sleep much last night. Every time I began to drift away, I would startle and look over to check that Gannen was still within my sight. About the seventh or eighth time this happened, I got up, walked over to him, and laid down next to him. I decided that he would be much less likely to disappear if I was literally right with him. Slightly less anxious, I slept a bit better (though not much).

In the morning when I woke up, Gannen hadn't gone anywhere. I woke him up, and he seemed less comatose than he had yesterday. When he woke up, he looked confused and stared at me, before saying, “You...”

“Yes?” I replied.

“Sigrid.”

“Are you alright, Gannen?”

“Alright?” He appeared unsure, “I... yeah... no... I don't know.”

I took one of his hands in my own. “I need your Truename.”

He looked down at my hands. “Truename? Oh yeah... Ronnudulaes.” The name seemed to echo with a power that only a Truename possessed.

After informing Paerk of Gannen's Truename, he made short work of fulling restoring him. After he was recovered, he seemed a bit concerned that he had so easily divulged his Truename. I informed him that I would never misuse it. He still seemed a bit wary, however.

Blank asked him about Monala's “evil plan,” and he told us that we had to go to Xanadu as soon as possible. He wasn't entirely clear on what exactly Monala was going to do, but he told us that her plan involved zombies and other general evil. He also informed us that Mixastomere was involved as well, a fact that (surprisingly) didn't seem to cause Soern much grief.

We decided to return to Ao-Manasa to stock up and get ourselves properly equipped before venturing off to Xanadu. Even sailing back to port was more difficult than it should have been; the weather was getting worse by the moment. Once back in town, we went to the University and talked to Uthar again. He told us that Xanadu had, indeed, been the capital of the Hora Quan empire. After we told him that we believed the Heart of the Ocean may have been restarted and that that may be the cause of this recent foul weather, he seemed very concerned.

We also did some shopping. I got a new set of armour and purchased some things for Gannen, who seemed to be suffering from a distinct lack of equipment. We left the city before nightfall.

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 2

The weather was again horrible today, but Captain Blank says we made astounding progress. Captain Blank seems convinced our above-average speed is directly linked to his above-average sailing ability. I have a different, more sinister idea. I believe these cursed winds are ushering us off to Xanadu. It is as if Monala herself is beckoning to us, summoning us to her dark lair as a spider does with flies. Either she gets some sadistic pleasure out of continuously causing us strife, or perhaps our deaths will simply be the last obstacle in her malefic plan. Either way, we're in for a world of hurt.

Gannen's been distant today. I tried on numerous occasions to pull him aside to speak with me and he brushed me off each and every time. This concerns and saddens me.

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 3

We're another day closer to confronting Monala, and Gannen and I are another day further apart. I spent a good deal of my time today trying to talk to him, yet he still would barely even make eye contact with me.

Near the end of the day, Commodore Blank climbed up to the Crows' Nest while I was on duty.

“Why by Malleus' beard are you still up here?!” he exclaimed, “I've yelled at you like five times to get your ass back down on deck.”

I didn't answer him and instead looked out in the stormy sea, “Can I ask you something?”

“If you get down from here, sure.” I looked at him and he pointed towards the ladder. “Get climbing.” When we reached the bottom of the ladder, Commodore Blank lead me into his office. He pointed to a chair and tossed a drying-cloth to me. I sat down. “Now, what did you want?”

“Why does he hate me?”

“He? Who? Mark? He doesn't hate you, he's just not the most... personable. I'm sure he didn't mean to hit you in the head with that plank earlier. If you hadn't been daydreaming off in your own little worl...”

“I'm not talking about Mark,” I interrupted.

“Then who? Gannen?” Blank looked at me. I sighed and stared at the floor. “Aha... I see... Sigrid's a bit smitten, is she? This calls for a toast!” Blank reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of rum and a not-so-clean shotglass. He poured a shot and pushed the glass towards me.

“You think everything calls for a toast,” I muttered.

“Precisely. Go on now.”

“I don't want any rum.”

Blank looked a little taken aback. “Don't... want... rum? Ah,but you jest, of course you want it. Go on.” Blank held the rum bottle in one hand, waiting for me to take my glass. Sighing, I lifted the shot. Blank lifted the rum bottle up in a manner of toasting. I echoed with my glass. Blank downed three or four guzzles as I sipped about half the shot.

“I just wish I knew why he hates me...”

“I don't think he hates you. I think he hates that sword,” he motioned towards the Aur Xica with the bottle.

“How would you know that?”

“Commodore Blank is an amazingly wise man,” he smugly stated. Upon seeing that I was not impressed, he added, “Well, and Gannen told me earlier that he hates that sword.”

“So, he's been avoiding me to avoid the Aur Xica?”

“Maybe... Look, Sigrid, why don't you talk to him about it?”

Leaving the Aur Xica in Blank's care, I ventured down below deck to do just that, but found that Gannen was already fast asleep in his bedroll. I will have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him.

~~~~~

Fifthmonth 4

When I woke up this morning, Gannen was already up on deck. He greeted me with slightly more enthusiasm than he had previous days. Perhaps Blank was right about the sword. I still felt that I needed to talk to him about “us”, so I stole him away below deck. Ignoring the issue of the Aur Xica completely, I asked him flat-out what he thought of me. He averted the question, telling me that he really couldn't have this conversation now. He promised me, however, that after Xanadu, after we dealt with Monala, that we could talk about everything. I begrudgingly accepted this arrangement and we talked for a little while about other things. He expressed a little self-annoyance with how easily he divulged his Truename. I then shared my Truename with him. He was silent for a moment and then commented, “You really trust me, don't you, Sigrid?” I informed him that that was, indeed, the case and he turned away and sighed. A minute or so later, he excused himself to return to work.

I decided to take a break for the rest of the day. I'm scheduled for night watch tonight, so I think I'll rest up for that.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 19: Past Becomes Present

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 20 (continued)

We went to the Black Angle for the evening. Oh, how I am beginning to love that place.

Unfortunately, alcohol seems to impair my judgment very badly. After a couple a few several rounds, I decided it would be a good idea to visit Ea-Shamar. You see, my intoxication had given me a brilliant plan.

I visited Ea-Shamar. First I yelled at her about Monala. Then I offered to help recover Iu-Molan in exchange for her ignoring Gannen. After an argument that is now a bit blurry in my memory, it became apparent that she was not going to agree to this situation. I almost threatened to not help in the search for Iu-Molan, but I decided that that would be taking it a bit too far. I wouldn't allow Monala to harm the girl just because I was stubborn. We decided to leave town.

We didn't exactly know where we were going, mind you. I decided our top priority should be finding Gannen. The rest of the crew actually agreed with me (maybe this Runechild thing is really working out) and Soern cast a scrying spell on him. He discovered that Gannen was in the streets of a town, killing people. Monala was standing with him, watching. This made me angry enough to scream a few curses at her, including a few choice words about her heritage. Soern “helpfully” reminded me that a scry is a one-way connection. I shot him a dirty glance and he shut up.

Soern decided that the town Gannen was in looked like the northern port town of Gorzam, where Blank originates from. So, we set course for Gorzam and sailed off.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 21

Sailing, sailing
Over the bounding main
Where many a stormy wind shall blow
E're you come home again
Sailing, sailing
Give me your answer do
I'm half-crazy
Over the...

You know what? I'm pathetic. Would I feel so guilty about losing him if I didn't love him? Probably not. I feel no guilt over the loss of Iu-Molan, even though that was probably also preventable on my part.

Damn you, Monala.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 22

Gorzam. I will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Also, Blank seems to be somewhat of a local hero. Coincidence? I think not.

We went to visit the Scurvy Seadog, a tavern run by Blank's Uncle Grisby. Upon meeting Mr. Grisby, I politely introduced myself in the manner in which one should greet a person of the merchant class. This elicited a rather strange response from Grisby. He frowned, looking a bit confused. Eventually he said, “You'll be looking for the Governor? Well, we went and threw him out a couple o' years ago, so ya don't need to be bowing or “sirring” or any o' that load of shit.” He grinned. “Pardoning milady's ears o' course,” he added in a bit of a mocking tone.

Serious as stone, I corrected him, “It's Dame, not Lady.” He shook his head and sighed, as if he couldn't believe he was listening to this. A smile crept across my face and I proclaimed, “Just kidding.”

Grisby blinked, forced a laugh and quietly commented to Blank that he “really knew how to pick 'em crazy.” Blank nodded. I decided to keep my mouth shut for the time being.

Blank asked him about Gannen, and Grisby basically confirmed what we had already seen through Soern's scrying spell. He added that these “two people” had appeared and killed people several times, always taking the bodies with them. Curious.

Blank and the rest of the crew remained at the Scurvy Seadog for awhile while I wandered around near the docks. I examined the boats, trying to decide if I wanted to buy one of my own or not. Deciding that another boat wouldn't really be beneficial, and seeing that there were very few available to buy anyway, I decided to not buy a boat.

I returned to the Scurvy Seadog just as the crew was leaving. I asked where they were going, and Blank told me they were going to the Black Market. I asked, confused, if that was an actual, physical place, and he informed me that it indeed was.

“It's right down the street from Lenny's Fish Market on Commerce Street. Just look for the sign.”

Just look for the sign? What kind of Black Market had a sign? Apparently “Don Marko's Illicit and Pirated Goods” did. Wow.

It was a very grody store, but it had a good selection. I didn't really touch anything (for fear of contracting Lockjaw), but I did have a look around while the crew purchased some stuff.

We returned to our ships. Soern cast another scry on Gannen and found that he was standing at the Temple of the Hor'Quan, conversing with a dracha.

Before sunset, we left Gorzam. Good riddance.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 23

We're going to go to the Temple of the Hor'Quan, but first we're stopping at Pental so I can fill Lord Morek in on what's been happening, and perhaps request assistance. We will, supposedly, arrive tomorrow.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 24

Commodore Blank's about as accurate at predicting arrival times as those witches who try to predict the weather are at guessing when a storm is coming. Blank's a witch as well... Hmm... Perhaps all witches are simply untrustworthy. Damn mages.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 25

We arrived at Pental in the middle of the night last night. Early this morning, I met with Lord Morek and told him what had been happening, and what we planned to do about it. Our conversation eventually arrived at what our main goal was. When I told him we planned to restart the Hor'Quan Empire, he was very supportive and even granted me a Knight partner, Dame Jocelyn Riet, and a small batallion of Squires to assist. Milord is most gracious.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 26

I was on watch duty today and had to deal with a flock of angry seagulls who had decided that the crow's nest was their roost and that I was an intruder. Theoretically the peck marks will heal without scarring.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 27

Per usual, our one day trip from Pental to Ao-Manasa has turned into a two-day journey. This is torturous. I suppose I'm just a bit more anxious than normal. Okay, perhaps a lot more anxious than normal.

After we arrived in Ao-Manasa late in the evening, Soern and Blank scurried off to the Black Angle to pick up some items from Cer-Athane. I stayed at the ship, fearing the wrath of Ea-Shamar. I didn't really want her to find out I was back so soon, especially since I didn't have Iu-Molan with me.

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 28

We had a meeting to discuss how to best reach Gannen (well, Iu-Molan, K'Max's, and Monala too, I guess). Soern recommended scrying on Gannen once again and then teleporting to him. I agreed wholeheartedly with this plan.

We figured that was what Monala was expecting us to do, however, so we decided that we all shouldn't go and we should leave something behind so Monala couldn't get “all the pieces of the puzzle” as it were. It was decided that Paerk and Jocelyn would remain behind, mostly because they were the least likely to end up in jail. We left them with the key we retrieved from Gannen's home.

Soern then cast another scry on Gannen. He was in a dark cavern with Iu-Molan. He then teleported us in. I hate teleporting. It feels like I'm being dragged through a hole in the fabric of the world itself. A very cold, slimy, stabbing kind of hole. Magic makes my skin crawl. Almost literally, in the case of teleporting. I found myself on the floor of the dark cavern. Everyone else was on their feet. I scrambled to mine and looked around.

It was dark, but not dark in the sense that darkness used to be for me. It was as if all the colours were muted, but the shapes were as clear as always. I am still getting used to these runechild eyes. I could make out many shapes in the room. There was a giant glass-like block of ice in the center of the room. There were also quite a few ice mephits that I was concerned about, Iu-Molan, whom I was pleased to see, and Gannen, whom I was more than pleased to see. Something glittered atop the ice-block. Looking back at it, I noticed that it was one of the seeds from the Isle of the Jeweled Trees. Curious. Underneath the iceblock, there was a soft, orangish glow.

I thought it may have something to do with the riddle Lord Morek gave me back in Thirdmonth. The thing about restarting the volcano.

Free the fire,
From icy fist,
Meet seed with flame of earth,
With storm and stare,
With will of heir,
Of right blood and right worth.

Soern suddenly yelled at us not to melt the ice. I suppose he had the same idea I had. Restarting a volcano while inside of it may be hazardous to one's health.The Aur-Xica seemed rather excited all of a sudden. Perhaps it felt the impending battle with the mephits that were already beginning to charge us. As we were fighting, I tried to make my way over to Gannen, but there were too many mephits for that plan to work. Suddenly there was a big burst of fire, causing the ice-block to melt and the seed to fall straight down into what appeared to be magma.

I yelled at Soern for his carelessness as I smacked the last of my mephit attackers, but he claimed that it hadn't been him that had cast the fireball. Monala. I screamed her name but got no reply. The only sound I heard was a steadily increasing rumbling beneath my feet. Running over to Gannen, I tried to talk to him, but he was zoned out and catatonic.

The rumbling grew louder. Mark grabbed Gannen and began to run towards the daylight that we hoped was an exit. I helped Iu-Molan to follow and we all fled, just as the magma began to rise into the cave. Death-by-volcano was not in the plans for the day, so we kept running, finding a way out of the cave. Once out, we scrambled up some rocks to the top of the Temple of the Hor'Quan.

There was a horrible shaking, and on the horizon, we witnessed a giant stone structure rise out of the ocean just as the sun was rising for the day. It was a beautiful,and terrifying sight.

Poor Gannen's mind was seriously messed up by Monala. Soern said there really wasn't much he could do here and suggested we teleport back to the ships, where perhaps Paerk would be of more help. It also started to rain.

When it came time for Soern to teleport us back, he kept glancing around at everyone. When I asked him what the problem was, he explained that he wasn't sure if he could teleport everyone back, but that he would try. This revelation evoked many painful images in my head of teleportation-gone-horribly-wrong. I was so distracted, I didn't even noticed Soern cast the spell. There was that creepy feeling, and then I appeared on the Fearful Lightning, shivering. I glanced around and noticed that everyone else had made it in one piece as well, including Gannen, whose arm I grabbed onto protectively.

Paerk took a look at Gannen and everyone debated for awhile on the best way to fix his mind. At first, Paerk thought the most obvious way to fix him would be to kill him and then resurrect him again, but I (almost violently) vetoed that idea. Eventually Paerk decided he could cast a restoration spell on him to fix him, unfortunately, he needed to look over said spell first and wouldn't be able to cast it until tomorrow. Even tomorrow, he would need to know Gannen's Truename for the spell to work. Perhaps by morning, Gannen will have recovered naturally enough to tell Paerk his Truename.

Soern then messed with Iu-Molan's memory so she would think Gannen got taken away by Monala again. Clever that. Anyway, Paerk, Blank, and I escorted Iu-Molan to Ea-Shamar, who thanked us, but seemed a bit stressed. Apparently there had been a prison break earlier that day and several prisoners had escaped. Blank asked if Illiam had escaped. When Ea-Shamar informed him that Illiam had indeed gotten away, I swear, Blank nearly became a Champion of Justice right then and there. Well, a Champion of Justice-Against-Illiam anyway. That's like a Champion, but with more piracy, and more hatred of Illiam.

I then proceeded to have another little chat with Ea-Shamar about not bothering Gannen. She reacted exactly the same as she had before. There was no way she was going to pardon him. I then, rather stupidly, demanded an audience with the Steward. She was a little surprised and at first denied my request, but I eventually convinced her to allow it.

My conversation with the Steward went thusly: I told him to stop his focus on Gannen. He asked me on what grounds I was requesting this, and I basically admitted the crew was at-fault for Mischa Mevarin's death, which didn't go over well. He ordered Ea-Shamar to question me and had me dragged out of his audience chamber. Once back with Ea-Shamar, she berated me for being an idiot and bringing Gannen to the attention of the Steward once again. Apparently he had been beginning to forget about the whole ordeal. Oops. She strongly suggested that we should leave town for awhile, to let things cool off a bit. Captain Blank obliged, and we were off.

~~~~~

Sigrid's Journal 18: A Day on the Town

~~~~~

Fourthmonth 20

I woke up this morning and climbed down from my sleeping loft. Ulray and I had breakfast and then I bid him adieu and returned to the Ocean's Blade. Captain Blank was fishing off the docks. Next to him was an old boot, and a bucket of water containing some sort of ugly fish (which Blank told me was a bootfish). He tried to teach me how to fish too, but I accidentally dropped his rod in the water. The water in the harbour isn't terribly deep, so I dove down and retrieved it, but he still told me I'm not allowed to fish anymore, as this was the second fishing mishap I've had. By the time I got dried off, it was nearly noon, so I wandered off towards the castle and left Blank to his fishing.

As I approached the castle, I ran into Paerk (well, actually, he flew into me). He giddily told me that he had been given one of the hot air balloons from the faen air armada. Then he flew off to make arrangements to have it brought to the Fearful Lightning. Such an excitable one that one is.

Right on cue, Soern and Rellik (along with a few other prisoners) were released at noon. As soon as we were out of the castle, they asked me about their money. I told them that they were going to have to talk to their mastermind of a Commodore, so I brought them to him. We arrived back at the docks around the same time Paerk did. Soern put a magical shield up around Blank, and the three of them demanded their cut. Blank laughed and told them not to worry about it. I then chimed in that Blank had already spent the entire bounty with Cer-Athane. This displeased the rest of the crew greatly. An argument broke out, and eventually, under duress, Blank was brought back to Cer-Athane and was forced to cancel part of his order to pay the crew their share. I wouldn't touch that unclean money from a ten-foot pole, so my cut was divided amongst the others as well.

After all the unpleasantries were dispensed, Rellik went off into town on his own, telling us he had business. The rest of us went to the university to see Uthar and ask him about the seeds. He informed us that he did believe that the shiny gems we had found were seeds. He picked out three that were “excellent specimens” and we sold the rest to Cer-Athane and Taevin Brightfind.

Whilst selling some of the seeds to Taevin, Blank asked him if we could arrange a meeting with his contact (who seemed particularly interested in the Aur Xica). Taevin said he would contact his client and let us know.

We also asked around the Black Angle about Hellas (who was one of the crossed-off names on Illiam/Monala's list. No one would really talk to me about it, but Commodore Blank discovered that he was once a fierce pirate in this region, but recently he had been much less active. We were told we could probably find him at the Rusty Scupper, the local pirate hang-out. Rellik caught up to us at the Black Angle and told us he had a new mark: K'max's, who was likely at the Temple of the Hor Quan. Interesting...

The Rusty Scupper was as clean and pleasant as the name would indicate. Note to self: Ask Paerk for some magical disease curing potions. We stormed in and I demanded to see Hellas.

“What man among you is called Hellas? I must INSIST on speaking to him at once!”

I was met by a couple chuckles. Additional note to self: Pirates (unlike a lot of people) are not impressed by runechildren or knights. Blank then pushed past me and told me my language was all wrong.

“Show yourself, Hellas, you scurvy seadog! Unless you're too much of a land-lubbing coward to face Commodore Blank.”

A dark-haired man with a long beard came out of the crowd.

“I be Captain Hellas to the likes of you. Yeh call yourself a Commodore. Commodore of what? A rowboat and a raft?”

“Enough!” Blank turned to me, “Sigrid, your gauntlet, please?” I obliged, and he walked up to Hellas and hit him in the face with it (which had to have hurt). “I challenge you to a duel!” I can't imagine that pirate duels are really that much different than knightly duels. I doubt you're supposed to hit your opponent in the face with a platemail gauntlet.

Hellas seemed a little phased. “Choose your weapon.”

“I choose... the banjo!” proclaimed Blank.

“I accept.”

“You do?” Blank seemed a little taken aback.

The duel commenced. Blank seemed to be doing okay for awhile, but then Hellas started playing immensely well. It looked as if Blank was going to lose, but then he shot a bolt of ice at Hellas' banjo.

“You shot my banjo! I completely misjudged you! You are a pirate after all!”

After that we all sat down and had a lovely talk. It turns out Hellas once worked for Illiam, but he never wanted to and he hates the man. This satisfied our curiosity, so we left. On the way back to the ships, Paerk kept talking about how we should have arrested Hellas and brought him to Ea-Shamar. Blank seemed onboard with this plan, as there was probably a ransom for him. I turned and glared at them angrily, reminding them that we were already on a very short leash with Ea-Shamar, what with the “accidental release” of Blank and Soern and Paerk's involvement with that. They agreeed that we should probably just let him go and wait for things to calm down with Ea-Shamar before we go stirring up the hornets' nest again.

Finally, someone actually listened to me!

~~~~~