Late one recent evening, I answered Lord Jaysehn’s telepathic call for aid. He offered his boat to anyone—of any training—who wished to join him in eradicating pirates from the seas around the Landing. I answered with my friend, Lord Bootch, and fought alongside the two of them and Lord Jaysehn’s other friends. Jaysehn told me that this was for anyone in league with the followers of Voln. Although I am not among them, I do appreciate freeing the undead from their torment, so I was happy to help out.
Bootch and I were both new to life on the sea. Jaysehn showed us the ropes, quite literally. He walked us around the boat and showed us the deck, the hold, his captain’s quarters, and the crow’s nest, where we were given assignments by a rather demanding crow. My first one? To sink an enemy ship.
We loaded balls into cannons and felt the sea air rush around us as we navigated waters that were, for me, entirely new territory. When we found our first ship, the gunfire was at first overwhelming, and soon my friend and I were fighting krolvin seafarers by ourselves. Between his might and maul and my own fire magicks, we held our own until the enemy crew had been defeated with only minimal injuries that my runestaff failed to block. Dazed, I answered the call to join our allies on the enemy ship. There, Jaysehn led us onto the deck and gave me the first honor of razing it, which came naturally to a fireweaver such as myself.
Next came patching up the damage to the ship and reloading the cannons, which we did with minimal discomfort—Bootch was easily able to carry them up the stairs, whereas I made liberal use of a floating disk. Before we knew it, we were firing those cannonballs at another ship. I enjoyed seeing them suffer from the same fate they intended for us—this was surely the much more enjoyable side of the cannon to be on. My mission this time was to kill the pirate captain, but my instructors warned me to wait until they had softened him up a bit.
Again, Bootch and I encountered wave after wave of pirates and held our own, and I managed to hold onto enough mana that when the captain was ready for me, I finished him off with a minor fire spell. We sped onto the enemy ship and the two of us were given the job of pulling all of the valuable treasure from their captain’s cabin before Bootch had the pleasure of razing the ship. One of our new allies was injured, but an orange (and perhaps a spell) seemed to put them on their feet quickly enough.
On our third voyage, we were taught how to read the map and steer the ship. Being somewhat lacking in directional sense myself, I let Bootch take charge of turning the wheel. He acquitted himself well and mercifully we found our final target before I had the chance to run us aground or get us lost. By the time the cannon fire had faded and the ship was facing yet another boarding party, Bootch and I were a well-oiled machine; between swings of his hammer and my bolts of steam and fire, the pirate scum were quickly defeated. I also set several layers of prismatic guard on myself, and at first, I was embarrassed—but then I realized that a gentleman should always look his shiniest and best when proving himself to a new company.
We were back in the Landing before I had the chance to taste more than an orange from the mess. We quickly divided up the spoils of our treasures–Jaysehn and his friends were most generous with me—and went off to sell what we had found. My share of the silver was a rather astounding sum for someone of my few years of training, but it was the experience of sea-faring and teamwork that made the biggest impression on me, bigger even than the thankfulness I felt upon learning the cost of purchasing a ship.
Pirates have much to fear if they insist on facing the might of Jaysehn and his colleagues!
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