Month: December 2021

There was a little trouble getting back to West Haven, then Faris had to address a dragon situation.

When I reached the ship, Captain Vaughn was upset about the danger I was putting the ship in – as if anything other than this island was my fault – and demanded additional payment to take me back to West Haven. I talked him down to half of it.

The giant squid that attacked us en route to West Haven, for example, was not my fault. I rushed to a cannon, like many others, and managed to hit the creature with all four shots. Finally, after all that, I crawled into an empty hammock and slept until we docked in West Haven. My first stop was at a shop for some potions, knowing that Edvarius would be a tough opponent. Of course the guards spotted me immediately… lousy luck there. I only killed one of them before a whole swarm of them arrived and overpowered me.

They took me directly to Edvarius at the church cemetery, where he immediately seized the Dragon Staff, cackling about it securing his victory. I discretely sipped a potion of Aged Wine before asking Edvarius for more details, trying to stall his spellwork. He threatened to have me killed before completing the ritual. The dragon eggs back to crack and ooze, covering the skeleton, reforming muscles and tissue on it. I quaffed a Mental Elixir as the dragon let out a terrifying roar, trying one last time to interrupt this obscene ritual.

The guards released me at Edvarius’s signal, as soon as the dragon took flight. I whipped out my bow and shot it multiple times, carefully evading its attacks in the process. The dragon, Frothaerinvid, jumped down from the church room and began attacking random people. I shop him with another arrow, catching his attention as people fled.

I was firing furiously now, evading the dragon for the most part while peppering him with arrows. He reared back, opened his mouth, and blasted fire, engulfing the entire street. I ducked behind a stone pillar, evading the actual flames, though I still felt the heat.

The dragon started to fly away, struggling to do so with his oozing wings. I climbed a building, dashed across it, and leapt onto Frothaerinvid’s back. I clung to his rib cage as best I could, slicing my hands on his sharp bones. With Richard’s help, I stunned the dragon briefly, preventing it from biting me.

I knew I had to get the dragon away from the city, so I downed a Physical Elixir and used its horns to guide it towards the coastline. With the impending sunrise reflecting off the water, it occurred to me that the water might destroy the black ooze powering the dragon’s bones. I threw myself off his back as he crashed, though my landing in the water was no more graceful than his.

The ooze washed off his skeleton and dissolved into the water. The dragon stopped moving as its bones broke apart and floated to the surface. I swam back to the docks, climbed out, and collapsed for a few moments before the cries from the city drew me back to confront Edvarius.

Faris’s adventures on a ship, including learning a new skill that she’ll probably never need again. I mean, hopefully she won’t.

By the way, the 2022 Quest Calendar is available. Mine arrived this week.

Having arranged passage, I stocked up on some supplies for the trip. I watched as we sailed away from the city, enjoying the crew’s tradition of celebrating with a strong wine and some awkward dancing. It was supposed to be a three-day voyage around the island of Irulla. I joined in the work eagerly, and seemed to fit in well with the diverse crew. As a storm blew in, I helped fight off a harpy attack, then had a quick lesson on firing the canon, just in time for a pirate attack. I was thrilled when three of my four shots hit their targets. Then the pirates boarded and we were all engaged in hand-to-hand combat. I slayed three myself, though one managed to stab me.

I had no idea sailing could be so perilous. When we neared the Drighorn Islands, a siren’s call captured the crew’s attention. Captain Vaughn snapped me out of it, but many crew members were already jumping into the water. I raced to the cannons, shooting as many mermaids as possible before the crew could swim near them.

Once past those dangers, the captain allowed me to designate the order when searching the islands for Godwin’s vault. We stopped at Warmont Isle, where some monkeys stole a bit of gold, but returned it in exchange for some fruit. The Captain navigated through to Dayrain Reef, where I spent half a day climbing before finding the vault. As I neared the top, it became apparent that it was usually reached by magic. Luckily, I was able to find handholds easily for the climb.

The door to the vault presented a puzzle: a grid of letters with a clue overhead. I quickly deduced that the word started with “dr,” but tried “druid” before landing on the more obvious “dragons.” I quaffed a health potion as the door creaked open.

The door opened, revealing a magically enchanted circular room, with far more space than the door implied. I explored through a bedchamber, found some meal rations in the storage room, and set off a bird alarm in the garden – it squeaked “Intruder!” until I explained that Godwin had sent me. I found a health potion in his library, then discovered a locked chest in the last room. A quick search turned up a key, revealing more potions and some gold inside the chest.

My focus shifted to the Dragon Staff floating in a circle composed of light columns… magical, I assumed. I reached quickly between the columns to grab it, then fled as lightning flashed out from the circle, clearly trying to strike me.

After evading the lightning, I felt the entire cavern shake as a stone golem emerged from the wall. I hid behind a boulder, which improved my chances of hitting it without being hit… much. When it slumped back into a pile of rocks, I finally examined the Dragon Staff I was holding.

It was dark when I left the wizard’s vault, though not for long… the vault exploded, raining ash, rock, and lava down the mountain! I quaffed a Physical Elixir and ran down the mountain like my life depended on it, leaping over rivers of lava while covering my mouth to avoid inhaling volcanic fumes.

Some random encounters, a poor attempt to acquire some quick coin from a job board, and a (not terribly) shocking betrayal as Faris returns to West Haven.

When I went downstairs for breakfast, a couple thugs were roughing up the innkeeper. Some things are the same in every town. I interceded, of course.

Then I perused the local job board for some quick coin before continuing on my trip. An herbalist asked me to harvest a plant from the nearby swamp, but I couldn’t find any. A pair of neighbors were squabbling over ownership of a prized horse; I was able to retrieve it for the owner. I wasn’t able to steal his neighbor’s wife back though – the horse’s owner had the urn with her ashes. Who does that?

On the return trip to West Haven, I spotted a slave caravan. I started a rockslide as a diversion before confronting the slavers. The buffoon in charge laughed when I demanded they free the slaves, then charged at me with his goons. I left one of them alive to carry the message that slavers should reconsider their chosen career.

Again, arriving in West Haven, the guards tried to stop me, claiming they were supposed to “bring me in”… as if I weren’t already headed in. I considered bribing them to let me pass, but decided to be charming and persuasive instead. Not that it did me much good, as Edvarius revealed himself to be a villainous necromancer, with plans to abuse the items he had me retrieve in order to revive dragons under his control. His guards rushed to lock up Lord Fellmont, Rufus, and myself. We tried to fight them off, but there were just too many of them.

Victor Fellmont appeared displeased with his father, railing about his various mentors and revealing the damage he had done to the city while helping Edvarius. Then the guards seized all my equipment and tossed me into a dungeon cell.

After a poor night’s rest, I determined to escape. After a failed attempt at picking the lock (I’m really not good at that), I resorted to kicking and pulling at it until it finally broke. I surprised a guard on patrol, which gave a sword to fight with after I killed him.

I heard someone in a nearby cell, who revealed himself to be Godwin the Great. He told me of Edvarius’s plot, and that the missing Dragon Staff might be able to stop Frothaerinvid, the ancient dragon that Edvarius intended to resurrect, giving me directions to retrieve it in the Drighorn Islands, as his health was not up to the journey.

I set off in search of my equipment, sneaking through a narrow halloway and checking each room I came to. I found the kitchen and baths first, and locked some guards into the bath house as a precaution. Luckily, the next room held my equipment. I resisted the temptation to riffle through other prisoners’ gear.

Searching for the exit, I ran into a couple more guards who I dispatched quickly, catching only a scratch from one of their spears. Then I found a ladder to a locked hatch, which I resorted to forcing open.

I emerged in the upper city and rapidly made my way to the docks, seeking passage to the western isles. Word got out quickly, as one man recognized me as the escaped prisoner, but he happily accepted some coin rather than calling the guards. A dock worker, for a fee, directly me to Captain Vaughn of the Blind Buzzard. I quickly reached an agreement with the captain, paying only for my food and agreeing to work while at sea.