Journal Entry of Marcus Muddywater
By James Scotland
Entry 105
We departed from the swamplands and headed back to the ship, The Young Lady. As I approached in one of the Captain’s gigs, I could see the letters painted on the side of the ship. Who named that ship? I thought to myself. The innuendos abound. Did the people actually think the name through? Probably, I concluded. Still, The Young Lady is a fine ship.
We climbed the rope ladder, stepped onto the ship, and Darby Chester, captain of the marines, was there to greet us. He is a stern man. We followed him into his quarters and were debriefed. Selectively omitting parts of the mission is difficult when you are accompanied by 13 marines. We told Darby everything, well almost. Darby demanded that we hand over the orb that we retrieved as well as the power crystal. We had little choice but to comply with his demands. Being part of a large organization is difficult. A person trades free will for resources. Anyway, we told Darby about the Revenarum appearing in the orb when Elre picked it up, and about the different kinds of magic crystals and what happens when they are touched. I hope that the other knights have realized that the Revenarum are actively pursuing us. Oddly, Darby did not ask many follow up questions, especially about all of the crystals that were there in the Ancient structure. I thought it would be prudent to go back and retrieve more crystals, thus eliminating the need to travel to the Isle of Marr, but he just wanted us to give him the items as quickly as possible. It is a little strange. We also handed over the unused/unwanted equipment that we found.
Then, Vallen, Bardolf, and Darby conferred amongst themselves. Again, we were excluded from the decisions. More resources, less free will. For now. Nothing lasts forever.
A short while later, the sails unfurled and we set sail. The sea was relatively calm, and the breeze was favourable. The Young Lady skipped across the water; I stood on the bow and inhaled deeply. The swamplands were to my right, a million shades of green cascaded, faded, and folded into one another. From a distance, it looked like a beautiful tapestry; although, in reality the southern swamplands contain a million ways to die.
As the ship sailed towards an unknown destination, I had a few hours downtime. I took Adoril to the store. We needed some rope. We convinced the quartermaster to hand over 100 yards of rope. Once out sight, we put the rope into the chest. The whole process was too easy. Then, I saw Kai go and talk to the Darby. I don’t know why. I didn’t ask. Next, I decided to figure out where we are going. I approached Bardolf, Ludlow, Cobden, and Edric as they were leaving Bardolf’s quarters. I attempted to play the fool and to tell them that we were going in the wrong direction in the hope that Edric would correct me and then reveal our destination. He didn’t. Instead, he was extremely dismissive. However with the use of my astrolabe and a little magic from Adoril, we figured out that we were heading south west and that we were probably heading the Isle of Marr. This, I found odd. Why go to the Isle of Marr to collect magic crystals when there is a temple full of magic crystals in the southern swamplands? It makes no sense. As usual.
Adoril wanted to learn how to use the shield that we had recently recovered, so he sought out shield training from Tavin. Kai wanted to practice using the bow that we had recently recovered, so she set up a target on the mast of the ship. Kai was promptly told no. After some thought, Kai tied a bucket to one end of a rope and the ships railing to the other end of the rope. She convinced a marine to throw the bucket in the air and then retrieve it using the rope. Each time the bucket was airborne, Kai loosed an arrow. Strangely, Kai often missed. I could see the watching marines starting to doubt her ability. As soon as the marines started to throw miscellaneous objects into the air, such as a half-eaten fish, I went below deck. As I descended, I noticed that Adoril was laughing softly to himself.
I had hoped to give the bilge of the ship another search. However once I had descended to the cargo hold, I realised that if I entered the bilge, then I would easily be seen as there was just too much activity. Several marines were playing cards, and Vallen had three books open and was writing with chalk on the wooden boards of the cargo deck. I couldn’t read the words, but there was a pentagram shape; I think. After observing for a while, I just left him to it. Instead, I joined in the games of chance with the men. With the onset of night, I headed to my bed and slept.
I awoke to an orange glow. I stood up. It felt like I was in a spirt world. There was an omnipresent serenity, and through a nearby porthole, I could see that the ocean was shrouded in a thick blanket of soft fog. It was then that I noticed that my body was still sleeping in my bed. I was having an out-of-body experience. The situation seemed spiritual and otherworldly, so I decided to wake Marie. As I walked towards her, I noticed a muscular blue-grey humanoid with red hair and tusks crouching in the corner next to her. I paused; he appeared dangerous. However, the strange figure could have murdered us all in our sleep already, but he hadn’t. Although the strange figure seemed concerned at my presence in this ethereal realm, he was not afraid of me. He was perturbed, but he was not afraid. I instinctively knew that violence was not going to solve this particular problem. The next person to awaken was Adoril. Unsurprisingly, Adoril instinctively thought that violence was the best way to solve this particular problem. I immediately stepped in between Adoril and the strange humanoid. Then, Kai awoke. The strange figure had a strange accent and answered questions with questions. Adoril started to get annoyed, understandably so.
Through heuristic experimentation, we quickly learned that although we were in some kind of spirit world, we could interact with the concrete world. I finally got the chance to explore the ship. Kai and I headed to Bardolf’s quarters. Adoril went to the top deck. After searching Bardolf’s quarters, I found a small wooden box. Unfortunately, it was locked. Even more unfortunately, lock picking is a skill that the group has yet to learn. Yet another skill deficiency that I need to correct. I am on a steep learning curve. Adoril returned and told us that we have company, kind of. Reavers were approaching. They were fully armed and they had a caster who was in the midst of casting a spell. However, as time in the real world is almost frozen, we could prepare for their attack.
We headed back to the strange blue-grey humanoid and told him that the ship was under attack. The strange humanoid introduced himself as Reginald and finally became cooperative. Reginald agreed to help us; in return, he wanted us to convince Marie to listen to him. We explained that in order to do that, he needed to earn our trust. Reginald explained that in order to wake the others, we needed to enter their dreams, which Reginald would help us to do. We decided to wake Vallen first. We followed Reginald’s instructions and closed our eyes. Silver Knights are plagued with nightmares. This is not going to be straightforward; I thought to myself.
We are in a battlefield. Dark-skinned elves are killing dark-skinned elves. Our boots sink into ground which consists of mud and blood churned together. The black sky is repeatedly illuminated by fireballs which rain down at irregular intervals. To my left, Adoril cleaves a random fighter into two pieces in one amazing swing. Not wanting to damage Vallen’s mind, Kai and I take a more thoughtful approach. In the distance we see a castle. Kai acrobatically ducks, vaults upon the tops of soldiers fighting in the field toward the castle gate. I leap one hundred yards over all of the bloodshed. Adoril uses his fists and clear a path towards the castle, throwing everyone aside with ease. It seems that in dreams, we can perform amazing feats that we can’t in the real world, though I couldn’t fly when I tried. Once at the castle gate, we dodge more fireballs, dispatch a random wizard and get to the inner portcullis. Strangely, Kai then uses a crowbar to lever open the portcullis. Another amazing feat. We enter the castle. It is pitch black; the cold stone of the castle’s corridors encompass us. I use the flaming sword to bring light. The walls of the castle start to softly echo with the sound of Yugao’s voice calling, “Oh Vallen.” Yugao is Vallen’s nightmare.
We travel down the corridors and make our way to a large hall. Shards of sunlight enter from high vaulted windows, and the perimeter of the hall is lined with stone columns. Both Yugao and Vallen are in the room. Yugao is tormenting Vallen. In response, Vallen is screaming incoherently and casting fireballs at shadows which flicker in the far corners of the hall. Vallen is distraught. It is difficult not to feel sorry for him. I need to do more to help him.
Kai enters the hall and shouts, “Vallen!” Vallen responds with a fireball. I’m not sure what happened next, but the result is Kai holding her groin as blood violently spurts out. I think I recall Kai mentioning something about Yugao’s penchant for making shots to the groin with her pistols. From the corridor, I glimpse a shadow, darting in a corner of the hall. After casting a shield spell upon himself, Adoril is next to enter the hall. A short, black-skinned elf emerges from the shadows. It’s hard to describe what happens next. Yugao starts to simultaneously wiggle and gyrate her hips, arms, and torso seductively, all the while staring at Adoril. It’s bizarre. What is even more bizarre is the fact that Aodril seems to like it. I call out to Adoril, but there is no response. He is stunned. A once mighty warrior, tamed by a gyrating and thrusting elven woman. A fireball explodes. The elf retreats into the shadows, firing her wrist derringer at Adoril as she does so. The bullet ricochets off Adoril’s protective energy shield and hits me in the groin. Blood violently spurts out of my groin area. As I reach for a healing potion, I don’t fully see what happens next, but the result is that Adoril cut off one of Yugao’s arms and Kai shot her through the heart. Then, Yugao is wiggling and thrusting her hip again, this time at both Kai and Adoril. Neither are impressed. As I try to calm Vallen down, Adoril chops off another arm and Kai shoots Yugao through the head. As she falls, she still taunts Vallen, saying, “Oh Vallen, I will always be nearby.” Then, Vallen fireballs the body of Yugao. As Vallen’s nightmare starts to fade, I can just make out the shape a dismembered elven woman, gyrating and thrusting as it is being consumed by flickering flames of orange and yellow.
Then, we were back on board The Young Lady. Vallen started to wake up. Adoril, Kai, and I closed our eyes, and with the help of Reginald, we entered the dreams of Marie.
Marie is being burned alive. She is tied to a long wooden stake which is situated in the middle of a burning pyre. We can see the backs of the inquisitor, the magus, and the templar. Not these three again, I think to myself. We ready our weapons, and Kai releases Tony. The inquisitor flies towards me. I jump past him, parry his blow as I meet him in mid-air, and land close to Marie. I turn and run to her and attempt to cut the ropes which bind her. The ropes don’t cut. What?! Meanwhile, the magus has tamed Tony, the inquisitor is raining blow after blow upon Kai, and Adoril has been halted by an energy shield created by the templar. As I reflect upon this experience, I now realize that Adoril, or even Tavin, needs to learn how to dispel magic. Admittedly, control spells are not the most glamorous, but they are the most useful. If only there was a way for me to acquire the ability to dispel magic. Anyway, in Marie’s dream, each of us was ineffective against these servants of Daeus.
Things change quickly in dreams. Kai is raging at the inquisitor, telling him all the reasons why she is not a mere moral, having the strength of generations of skinwalkers in her blood. Apparently, Kai is correct because she has now changed into a werewolf and is at the throat of the inquisitor. Adoril then starts rebuking the taunts of the templar that his divine patron, Mirth, is no servant of Daeus, and that it is an insult for the templar to belittle Mirth. Apparently, Adoril is right because his muscles bulge to the size of a giant and has now smashed the magical barrier and is bearing down on the inquisitor. I whisper the words, ‘I am no mere mortal’. I am mortal. However, I know that with the help of Calistos Sol, this hunted mortal is slowly becoming the hunter of immortals. I feel a strength of purpose within me swell, and I slice through the magus, and a white light sears through him; then, I turn and parry the mace of the inquisitor, chopping it in half. A second later, Adoril’s maul crushes the magus’s head down to his feet, causing his innards to explode out his sides, dousing the fire and covering me in blood spatter.
Then, we were back on board The Young Lady. Vallen and Marie were starting to wake up. Only Elre and Tavin to go. I was apprehensive about entering the mind of the dwarf. My apprehension was about to be fully justified.
Journal Entry of Marcus Muddywater
By James Scotland
Entry 106
Reginald sent Adoril, Kai, and myself into the dream of the disturbingly voiced dwarf. Rumour has it that the dwarf already had somewhat of a gravelly voice before he became a Silver Knight, and that the source of his gravelly voice was his penchant for eating fresh earthworms. Apparently, the dwarf used to go earthworm hunting immediately after a shower of rain. Anyway, I digress.
We find ourselves within a small wooden fortress deep in the mountains. It is night-time, and the moon is full. By moonlight, we quickly explore the small fort, finding the dwarf. He has fallen asleep on duty. The brave and loyal solider is sleeping. We couldn’t wake him, which is a problem as the plague zombies are approaching. The fort will soon be overrun.
Adoril and Kai start murdering the zombies. Adoril from the ground; Kai from the ramparts. Adoril twirls like a ballerina dancing effortlessly with a blade which is laden with death. Kai relentlessly fires her bow into the mass of advancing corpses. The zombies keep coming, and coming, and coming. It doesn’t matter how many they kill, and they do kill many. In a small building within the fort, I find the person in charge, Hruga. I explain to her that the zombies are attacking; she wants to hear it from the guard on duty, our dwarf. This is a problem; our dwarf is asleep.
Kai shapeshifts into our dwarf whilst I remove his outer clothing and armour. In no time at all, we now have two identical dwarfs. Kai goes to speak to Hruga and tell her of our plight. Hruga immediately sees through our cunning plan. Fortunately, dreams bend reality even more so than reality bends reality. Kai wills herself into our dwarf’s dream. “Tell him that it is raining”, I shout, as her form dissipates, “that will wake him up”. Dreams within dreams within dreams.
I stop and think. Our dwarf is having a nightmare. He has fallen asleep on duty and everyone in the fort is in imminent danger. This is a dream which stems from guilt. Guilt is a powerful emotion. I stop and think. A dwarf cannot feel guilty about something that he cannot remember. Out of my backpack, I take a potion of forgetfulness. As our dwarf lays flat on his back, I pour the potion down his throat. His dream ends. We are all back on the Young Lady, and the dwarf is starting to stir.
One left, Reginald sends Adoril, Kai, and myself into Elre’s dream. We are in a stone corridor. The corridor is flooded with shallow water. I recognize the surroundings. It looks like a previous episode of the gauntlet. We follow the corridor until it opens up into a large stone room. In the middle of the room is a giant mass of writhing leeches. We think that Elre is in the centre of the writhing mass. We think that we need to rescue Elre from within the writhing mass. We were wrong.
Animals don’t like smoke. We make fire; I direct the smoke towards the writhing mass. Predictably, the writing mass starts to move towards us. Unpredictably, the writhing mass summons an airy steed. It is at this point that we realize that the writhing mass is Elre. This is a problem, but we have options. We could either kill Elre or try to communicate with him.
Elre rides up to us but does not attack us. We choose to try to communicate with him. Dreams distort reality. I put my hands under my chin, wiggle my fingers, and will myself to be able to speak leech. It works. Apart from having his looks dramatically improved, Elre is fine. However, he does need to be restored to his original form. Kai throws a globule of great healing at the writhing mass. His dream ends. We are all back on the Young Lady, and Elre is starting to stir.
Now Adoril, Kai, and myself have to wake up from our slumber. We ask Reginald for advice. Reginald tells us that the best way to wake up from a dream is to die within the dream. Reginald sends us to the gauntlet.
I am in an arena. Adoril is to my right, standing tall in an impenetrable suit of armour; Kai is to my left, looking as agile and as accurate as ever. I hate the sarding gauntlet. I hate being made to kill the people who, with a little luck, can help me to put an end to the Revenarum. These people are tremendously valuable; I don’t want to harm them, even in a dream. I stand still with distain and spit upon the sand which covers the floor of the arena. Sard off.
My left hand erupts in white searing burning pain. Kai has shot me with an explosive arrow; my hand is a mess. Sard the gauntlet. I reach for the potions of healing. With me temporarily incapacitated, Kai now turns her attention to Adoril. Kai carefully eyes her next target and releases her bow string. Adori, however, has tricks. He quickly mutters an incantation. The arrow is reflected and now Kai is the target. Stunned by surprise, the arrow hits its new target. Kai’s head explodes into thousands of tiny fragments. Without a head, Kai’s body lurches forward and thuds into the sand of the area. Adoril, with his armour now speckled with pink, turns to face me.
Fighting is not about being strong; it is about being precise. With precision, the impenetrable becomes penetrable. I ready my blades. Seconds elapse. Then, Adoril screams in pain. I have put my sword into his eye; he should be dead but he is still standing. Ever resourceful, Adoril casts wizard eye, returning to him some semblance of vision. I finish the job. My dream ends. I open my eyes and stare at the wooden ceiling of the ship’s deck. I hate the sarding gauntlet.
Journal Entry of Tavin Grimmane
By Aaron Monroe
Soldier’s Journal, Tavin Grimmane
Entry Day 564
Getting a little drunk now in a bar. Sitting at a table with Vallen, Adoril, and Marie. None of us are talking at the moment, so now’s as good a time as any to record what’s been happening. Helps me to relax to sit with some good drink and just get my thoughts out there.
It’s only been about a couple days since my last journal, and we finished the whole ordeal with the jungle mission and locating the orb. Mission successful—everybody got out alive. After lying down for the evening back on the Young Lady, I remember having some terrible nightmares, much stronger than usual. I recall waking up confused and disoriented. Adoril had slapped me awake. I was having a terrible dream, strange memories recalling the death of my dwarven comrades due to my negligence. I was dreaming about how I had fallen asleep while assigned to guard duty, and a swarm of plague zombies had attacked. By the time our camp realized we were under attack, it was too late…several of my friends and fellow soldiers had been killed, and my commanding officer was blamed and banished.
I had been haunted by nightmares for a long time of this disaster and my mistake, but strangely, this last nightmare had members of my Silver Knight party there fighting. I vaguely recall Adoril slapping me in the face and telling me to get over my mistake (in the dream or in real life, I’m not sure…but how would he know about my past?) …it all feels strange now, but since the nightmare, I have felt as if I can finally forgive myself and move on.
Awake, and disoriented, I realized Adoril was standing over me, yelling, “We’re under attack.” I had no idea how he knew we were being attacked or by whom, but I trusted Adoril, so I bellowed out to the crew and for the ship’s captain. From corner of my eye, I saw Marcus still asleep in his hammock…Elre was slapping him awake. To be honest, I wish I had the honor to get to hit him in the face. Maybe someday…
After we managed to alert the captain, I was able to survey what Adoril had seen…in the distance, I saw an approaching ship, clearly a threat. It was further out in the dense fog, but I could make out a large crew and what appeared to be some strangely dressed weirdos on the deck waving their arms in a strange manner. I assumed they were some sort of magic users. The pirate ship was much bigger than ours and would quickly overtake us.
As our crew attempted to maneuver away, I noticed the pirates were slowing down. Strange, I thought, and attempted to get a clearer glimpse of what could be happening through the fog. It appeared they had dropped anchor…I had no idea if some of the crew had made a mistake or if this was some sort of elaborate plan, but Captain Shelley noticed this as well and ordered us to take the opportunity to try to outrun the ship. Our ship maneuvered further into the fog, and we thought we lost them and would be safe.
Adoril had the intelligence to check if they were using any magic to attempt to still follow us. He quickly realized that the mages, or whatever kind of magic users they were and however many they had on their ship, were scrying and closing in on our location in the fog. Vallen attempted to cast a counterspell and was able to eventually buy us some time, but it required his full concentration. We continued to try to lose the pirates in the fog while they were still trying to find us. I saw Kai on the crow’s nest, attempting to do her best to locate the pirates and relay anything she could see to the crew.
After some time had passed, I noticed a large shape on our port side. As I was attempting to alert the captain, suddenly, we were hit with a volley of cannon fire! There was some damage to our ship by the surprise volley, and I realized their ship’s cannons were larger than ours and could quickly sink the Young Lady. Adoril cast some sort of spell (how the hell does that big tank of a man manage to learn spells, anyway…most magicians and sorcerers I encounter look like twig-men men, not armored goliaths such as he…).
I knew we had to act quickly or the ship would be sunk, and most of us would be dead in short order…not me since I could swim and breathe underwater thanks to my new armor, but there were a few soldiers on board I respected and preferred not to die. I found Vallen and asked if he knew some sort of spell that could make the ship move faster. To be honest, I still have no clear idea all the kind of magic or spells or whatever Vallen and these twig people can do, but I figured Vallen should know something. Vallen said Marcus could create wind, and that I could ask him. I noticed Vallen and Marie seemed busy, like they were getting ready to do some strange ritual. I trusted Vallen knew what he was doing, and immediately began my hunt for Marcus.
Our ship was hit by a second volley, damaging our rear sail. Two marines had been badly injured. I ran hollering around the ship for Marcus…no need to be quiet since the enemy already knew where we were. Elre heard and joined my search below deck, and finally, Elre thought to request the Captain to send out the order to find Marcus quickly. Where in the many dark hells was he? I normally rather enjoy not seeing Marcus’s dumb, grinning face, but when we actually need him, he’s nowhere to be found! Anyway, Elre convinced Captain Shelley that Marcus could create wind to help our damaged sails and maintain some distance from the pirates while we worked out a plan to stop them. The Captain was convinced, and called for Marcus…for some reason, a cabin boy who was stationed in the captain’s quarters had seen Marcus. I guess the kid had encountered Marcus before because he led us right to the Captain’s quarters…Marcus had apparently been hiding inside while others risked their lives! I wanted to punch him, but we needed Marcus’s skills, and thus his consciousness…I’d let the captain deal with him later.
For the time being, Marcus used some magic spell or something to create wind which helped the ship move. When did he learn how to do this?! As we attempted to gain some distance, Adoril cast his “distant blow” spell and managed to hit that spell casting weirdo. We could faintly hear him screaming because of his arm being lopped off. Must have been a bizarre sight for his comrades to see him waving his hands, doing some magic spell one moment and then seeing his arm pop off the next moment without cause.
Suddenly, we were hit by a third volley from the pirate cannons…I was hit, and injured, but I could see some of our shipmates were hurt much worse. We needed to stop that other ship somehow. Elre was nearby, and asked how many grenades I had. I answered I had a black powder grenade and four glue grenades…and realized what Elre was thinking. I agreed to ride on his magic steed towards the pirate ship, trusting he wouldn’t get us blown up, but Adoril cast “Missile Shield” magic on us as well to assist us in case we were shot at.
We managed to reach the rudder of the pirate ship, avoiding incoming fire and attacks from the pirates. Elre managed to skillfully keep the steed steady amidst the ship’s wake, and I was able to successfully throw my glue grenades against the steering rudder as planned. I threw a black powder grenade amidst the glue to hopefully blow the entire rudder off, and we took off back for our ship. Luckily, everything seemed to go according to plan. We heard an explosion, and the ship’s steering seemed to be affected, but amidst the fog we had no clear idea what damage had been done.
Our ship did manage to gain some further distance as Marcus maintained his wind, and once Elre and I had reboarded the ship, I noticed Vallen had finished drawing some strange five-sided star or something along the front deck of the ship. He was with Marie. She was holding a tome out for Vallen as he was babbling some strange nonsense from it. I suddenly had a feeling that something very bad was coming…a sense of dread washed over me. Suddenly, we all heard a thunderous boom, but it sounded like it came from deep under the ship. For a moment, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, wondering what just happened. The moment was broken by Vallen laughing maniacally, “I did it, I did it! Release the Kraken!” I managed to wonder, “Vallen, what did you just do?” when I felt a large splash of water on my face, and felt something move up from below the waves nearby the ship…something BIG…
Emerging from the depths, I saw a large beast with many tentacles rise. It seemed to pause for a moment, its huge eye staring at Vallen as he demanded it attack the pirate ship. I suppose I should have been impressed by Vallen’s ability to summon such an awesome creature, but after he killed the party and brought us back to life, I don’t think anything he does would impress me now. Anyhow, he seemed to have some control over the beast, because thankfully it did not attack our ship despite being right next to us. It submerged back into the water, jostling the Young Lady in its wake. Half a minute later, we began to hear screams and sounds of the other ship being attacked. Captain Shelley ordered us to get as far away as possible. I let the captain know I was interested in waiting around so I could search the eventual sunken ship for loot or to find a survivor for interrogation, but the captain declined my request…he wanted us to get as far away from that THING as quickly as possible.
After we put some distance on the sea, Adoril cast a spell to locate where we were, and found we were by some island called “San Esperito.” I’m not the best at foreign languages, so I’d have to ask someone later what that meant. The name didn’t sound pleasant or welcoming though. We looked over the ship for damages, and took roll count for the crew…4 dead, 7 injured. The ship would need to be docked somewhere while we made repairs the Young Lady. I suggested to Vallen to try bringing the deceased soldiers back to life, but Vallen said it could take too much effort and time, and still may not be successful. Regretful losses…Adoril tried to find anyone on the ship who might know something about the island, but no one seemed to know anything.
We eventually reached the island, and as we sailed closer, Captain Shelley noticed a port, but he wished to avoid approaching it in case it was unfriendly, so he ordered us to maneuver to the other side of the island for reconnaissance and repair. I was getting annoyed with Captain Cowardy Mc Coward-face. We wanted to engage the pirates at the beginning, but he decided to run. Then we wanted to stay and loot the aftermath of the kraken attack, but he didn’t want to stick around. Now, he was afraid of heading into a foreign port. Doesn’t he realize he’s got a bunch of knights of badassdom onboard?
We found a spot two miles from land on a far remote side of the island to lay anchor. Kai volunteered to go with some of the greenfoots to search for supplies; Adoril, Marcus, Vallen, Elre and I were ordered to sneak to the port to get information on the area. Marie was brought as well in case she could translate…poor girl seemed confused and not at all eager to go. I really have no idea how she became involved in the Silver Order. I’ll need to ask her sometime why or how she fell in with the Knights.
While the others rode in the tiny turtle shell boat, I swam and pushed them along. We figured it would be the least visible as we approached the port from sea. Spying around from the outskirts, I got the impression it was a rough place with lots of pirates and lowlifes. The port was constructed in a seemingly random, disorderly fashion, as if buildings were built about at random. Many different races were walking around…I could see what looked like walking devil men, elves like Vallen but colored blue, and lots of other “creatures” and beings that were clearly not native Hautherian. Marcus said he could recognize a few of the races from previous travels, but most we did not know and had never seen before. Thankfully, with so many weird races around, none of us seemed to stand out at all, and we were able to walk around unnoticed and unbothered.
Marcus actually had a useful suggestion to find a bar to drink and try to get information about the area. We found a grungy, dank looking small bar with some name on the sign none of us could read, including Marie. Adoril cast some spell and was able to figure out the sign read, “The Grunting Whore Inn.” Sounded like a pleasant place to visit…I hoped we wouldn’t catch some foreign disease just from breathing the putrid stank air coming from the place.
We went in and found the place was crowded, with no free tables, but one or two spots with only a single rough looking patron sitting. Creatures from all walks of life were speaking different languages, so trying to eavesdrop on conversations wasn’t gonna get us anywhere. We managed to order a bottle of some nasty looking swill from the bartender (Marcus managed to communicate we were there for drinks and women). The bartender seemed pretty aggravated with us and didn’t speak Hautherian, but managed to grunt out something along the lines of women being up the stairs. He didn’t offer us any mugs for drinking, saying we should bring our own damned mugs. Charming fella, I thought. Adoril naturally approached the biggest, meanest looking stranger sitting alone at a table, and offered him a sip of our booze from the bottle. The guy took one look at Adoril, probably sizing him up for a fight, then just got up and left with a grunt. Clearly, we weren’t going to make friends in this dump, but at least we had a table to ourselves to make a plan.
Thinking things over, I came to the conclusion that the “comfort ladies” might be a safe way to get information about port and island without calling any unneeded attention to ourselves. I brought this up…Marcus immediately said he had no money because he gambled it all. I figured he was either lying or was the worst pirate I ever heard of…what kind of pirate scoundrel loses all their money at gambling? In any case, no one else seemed to have any money on them…of course…so I coughed up some coins for Elre and Marcus, who I thought would best be able to get in upstairs without raising any suspicion. I figured Marcus would be able to fast talk and worm his way into getting information, and Elre would be good back up to make sure Marcus didn’t waste time and behaved himself around the women. Hopefully, they could find someone to ask some questions and get some information on the area, and get out without any trouble. Before sending them off, I reminded them that they were only there to TALK with the women…and nothing else.
Elre and Marcus had their instructions, and went upstairs to find out what they could. I assumed if there was trouble or a fight, we would hear it. For the time being, Adoril, Vallen, Marie and I just sat at our table and took turns taking swigs from the bottle of nasty, bitter alcohol we had. It burned the throat, and made me feel like I was getting kicked in the head. Just my favorite kind of booze, loved it!
We had waited awhile for Elre and Marcus to return and fill us in on what they found out…I saw Elre come down the stairs looking frustrated, but then he marched back upstairs…strange…now nothing for the past few minutes. The bar has been noisy, so it is difficult to hear if there is any trouble going on up there.
I now see there is now some scantily dressed human female covered with blood spatter running downstairs for the door, screaming for help. Kinda looks like an evil, female version of Marcus, with black hair and eyes like a raven. Behind her, I see Marcus now, covered in blood spatter too and with his two swords out, followed by Elre still looking confused. In fact, both look a bit confused or surprised, and are clearly chasing after the strange woman.
Adoril and others up giving chase now. Gotta go—
-Tavin Grimmane, Dwarven Knight of the Silver Order
Battle Poem of Elre Hyrhorn
By Conan Kmiecik
“Silver Knights and the Misadventures in Botany Bay”
The Silver Knights were exploring the secret pirate port
and wandered brashly into a brothel for information.
Marcus and Elre advanced upstairs in order to “talk,”
but Elre was made to leave after asking too many questions.
Marcus, however, encountered a friend from his former life:
India Tyde was her name. Quickly, she stole his sword,
killed a captor, and dashed out during the disarray.
The knights then followed after Marcus’ lethal lady.
On the street, India asked to escape her courtesan clothes,
“Felix, be a love and loan me some coin,”
She then persuaded Marcus with a passionate kiss.
“Felix?” Marcus’ nickname perplexed the party,
but before they could probe more, they were beset by pirates.
“Aye, matey. We be wantin’ what is ours. Gib us de gurl!”
Adoril, ever the diplomat, offered some options:
“You can leave without India, or you all can die like dogs!”
This did not please the pirates who pulled out their pistols
and fired on the party. Elre was the first to rush into the row
before Marcus made a lengthy leap into the fray.
Adoril, meanwhile, was selecting a sword to swing
as Tavin summoned an armor of invincible ice.
Slash, parry, thrust, parry, smash parry—
the party fought with the pirate of Botany Bay
on behalf of Marcus’ newfound mysterious beau.
Soon more and more slavers surrounded the knights,
but they stood their blood-splattered ground
until the town guard showed up to the scuffle.
India swiftly intervened and convinced the constable
that the murderous misunderstanding was because
the knights had forgotten to furnish the money to purchase her.
“See all this gold? This was meant to buy me.”
“See all this gold. This was meant to buy her. Now end this.”
The pirates quibbled, but the knights were already off.
Oh, then suddenly Kai materialized—
she had gotten bored with a side mission and gone pilfering.
“Hi, guys! Who’s the fast-talking floozy?”
Tavin told her, “She’s Marcus’ smuggling sweetheart.”
India then invited the party for a drink.
Tavin retorted, “Best idea of the day!”
In the tavern, India got down to brass tacks:
she wanted off the island and needed passage.
The party had a ship but needed a unique navigator
that could guide them through the island’s magical mist.
“Well,” India instigated, “you need me more than I need you.”
Tavin tried to contest, but she dominated the tête-à-tête,
Then Adoril attempted diplomacy, but she deflected his tact.
Marcus did not want to fast talk over his lady’s toes,
so India persevered during the group’s parley.
The party agreed grudgingly to India’s terms.
Adoril and Tavin would return to the anchored ship
while Marcus and Kai would acquire clothes for disguises.
Elre would chaperone the untrustworthy two,
and Vallen and sweet Marie (sigh!) would tag along.
Tavin gave Kai the party’s gold to spend wisely,
but Marcus took her to the slave quarters
where the two began ogling prison stones
wondering how many they could procure.
“Take all our gold!” The two then bought 45 crystals
because Elre was preoccupied with a Krendiri slave.
“Quick, Vallen. Help me bid on the enthralled lass.”
After a flurry of bids, “There, Elre, now pay for the girl.”
“Ok, Kai. Give me some gold.” “Um, it is all spent,
but we can pay with empty prison gems.”
With the funds finished, Marcus and Kai had to spend
the afternoon filching in order to trade for clothes.
With the help of sweet Marie, the party bartered
for a mule, a cart, and a cartload of clothes.
The knights then resolved to return to their ship
after their misadventures in Botany Bay,
but as Tavin and Adoril swam into the secret harbor,
they were surprised that the ship was under attack.
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