Skies and Scars

After determining that there was not a kidnappish-looking bag or other such sinister object in sight, Oda allowed herself to relax. She wanted to know where things would be happening.

The most interesting people gathered in the hold, chatting and playing games, some of which looked like they could be lucrative if played right.

She overheard a group of sailors comparing stories of the morning prior.

“It didn’t happen like that,” she pounced up on a barrel to better get their attention, “trust me, I was there the whole time!”

“Oh?”

“Yep! Let me tell you!”

After recounting the attack, she tilted her head, inviting the praise and questions that were inevitable.

The laughter that followed was much more derisive than appreciative.

“Half of us saw what happened,” someone said, “And no one saw you there!”

“At least until the very end,” another added.

“Yeah, and a lot of help you lot were. I did things!” Oda snipped, and hopped off the barrel, wandering towards another, more friendly corner of the hold. There had to be someone here who would understand how important it was that she had been at the port. She believed herself, so why shouldn’t they?

____________________________________________________

Humming, Rue lifted her face to the sun. It had been far too long since she’d felt the rocking of a ship beneath her, and she was determined to spend as much of the day as far away from people as she could get.

She imagined she heard her name called faintly below her. She kept her eyes closed. The less she talked to anyone below, the less chance she’d have to slip up. Besides, no one could have anything worthwhile to say to her.

“Rue!”

The voice was insistent- and oddly familiar. She peered down at the deck. Thane stood at the mast, hollering up at her.

She grabbed a loose rope and swung down. Impulsively, she hugged him. “What are you doing here?”

“Guy needed people he could trust. I volunteered.”

“I’m… surprised.” Memories of their childhood flashed through her head, but stopped short of the day he'd left for good. Even after they’d found each other again in Tralco, the friendship had never been the same. She coaxed up a small smile. “But I’m glad you did.”

He raised a brow. “Okay, spill it, what are you doing on the Dawn?”

“I was on the docks yesterday morning when everything went down. Next thing you know I’m here.”

“And..." he prompted, "what were you doing at the docks?”

She may as well tell someone. “I was trying to sign onto a crew, to get out of Tralco.”

“Get out of Tralco?” A knowing note of suspicion crept into his voice. “Why?”

“I showed up looking for adventure; two years and I haven’t found it.”

Thane laughed incredulously. “In the biggest port city in Alkenpo? You could look down any back alley and there’s an adventure waiting to punch you in the face.”

She ran a hand through her hair, unsettled by how defensive she suddenly felt. “Not the kind I want. I need something bigger than thugs and thieves.”

“Salty seas,” he snorted, “you sound like a fairytale princess.”

“Shut up,” she elbowed him.

His smile faded. “So you're really serious about this? You know who we’re going after, right? What are you going to do if we find-”

“Don’t know yet,” she interrupted, “I just needed to get out of Tralco. Now that I’m out here, I’ll… I’ll figure it out,” she said the last part almost to herself. Luckily, she had at least a few day’s travel to come up with a plan, and the ocean air in her lungs. She was a pirate, dammit, she’d find a way out of this.

“Be careful.” Thane said. “There’s no telling what might happen.”

Rue sighed. “You too.” She squinted up at the clouds, unable to look him in the eye. “Leaving the organization doesn’t erase your past with them.”

Thane nodded, “See you around.”

She climbed back into the rigging, hiding among the sails and rope. She tried humming again, the old shanty tune so familiar it was nearly mindless, but the song lodged fast in her throat.

____________________________________________________

After coming above deck to let Pina fly amongst the billowy white sails and get some fresh air, Blank quickly learned to dislike the glare of the sun on the sea, and retreated to the hold where much of the crew was gathered.

She found an unoccupied corner and laid claim to the little wedge of space, content to be a silent observer. The spot gave her an excellent vantage point on Oda, who was looking like she was about to get herself in trouble, telling increasingly ridiculous stories about where she was and what she did at the port yesterday. The only constant was that she was “definitely there the entire time” and a “very important” factor in the victory.

She was also within earshot of Eridin, who’d immediately gone in search of booze. He was already tipsy, and passionately discussing the events of the morning before with an aarakocra. The snatches of their conversation were relatively uninteresting until she heard Eridin take a long swig from the bottle he held and say, “Well, if it’s Zandeer you’re looking to pick a fight with, I hope you’re ready to face down a dragon.” Then, without waiting for a response, he left.

Blank snapped her mouth shut, realizing it had fallen open. The aarakocra caught her eye and she shrugged helplessly.

Dragon? She was tempted to run after him and demand an explanation.

Two of the sailors walked by at that moment, blocking her route even if she wanted to get to him. They were laughing about something, and one of them glanced in her direction.

“This cat, huh?”

“She’s definitely something,” Blank agreed, chuckling. She sat forward, emerging a little from her shadowy corner. “All her tall tales aside, she’s got quite the story. It even managed to scare Ides.”

“Ides, the leonin?” The two men exchanged a look.

“Yes! She had a Zandeer bag on her and said she stole it, and he got all weird about it!”

“Zandeer?”

“I thought everyone knew about them?” She paused, confused. “Everyone else seemed to know a lot about the organization.”

“We know they’re not good news around Tralco, but it scared a leonin? What’s up with that?”

“That’s what I want to know!” Blank spread her hands helplessly.

A beat of silence passed as they processed this. Then, the man cleared his throat and offered his hand. “Sorry, where are my manners? I’m Geon, and this is Ard.”

She shook his hand. “Blank.”

“So what’s your story?” Ard asked.

“I actually don’t remember,” she smiled apologetically, and the men’s polite expressions twisted into confusion. “I lost all memories of my life up until a few months ago.”

“Ah, well, I hope you get your memory back?” Geon offered, and subtly nudged Ard to walk away.

“Nice to meet you!” Blank called after them.

“What in the seven hells is going on?” she heard one of them whisper.

“That went well, huh, Pina?” she griped, slumping back, and the pseudodragon nuzzled her shoulder.

____________________________________________________

Ides had forgotten how seasick the first day of ship travel always made him. Although the crow’s nest was not his pick of an ideal spot, it was relatively private and worlds better than the cabin with its cramped space and its closed walls and the stale air that was too thick to breathe… his stomach lurched. He stopped thinking about the room.

He heard someone up the ladder, and Eridin, bottle clutched in hand, joined him at the rail. The elf, as usual looking worse for wear, had proven himself uninterested in casual conversation, and true to form, started with, “So, who are you fighting for?”

“Myself.” And everyone that was once dear to me.

“Sure.”

“Mostly,” Ides amended, “I’m for Alkenpo as long as Zandeer is the enemy.”

“Why do you care?”

He stared out over the sea, but it wasn’t the waves that filled his vision. “They took the best of my life away from me, and I am going to take everything from them.”

The memory of fire and unending agony splintered down to his very soul. The echo of screams and the sickening feeling of loss was as new and dreadful as that day three years before. He blinked it away before it could consume him completely.

He side-eyed Eridin. “You?”

“I’m here to fight Zandeer.” He took a hard gulp from the bottle and winced. “Don’t fear the living but the dead.”

Ides thought back to the morning before. The dead were becoming a much bigger issue than he’d ever taken corpses to be. It would be nice to have someone that had a larger grasp of the situation than he.

He lay a heavy paw on the elf’s shoulder. “I’ll fight by your side any day.”

Eridin's shoulder dipped under the weight, accentuating the way decay seemed to creep over his body. Standing shoulder to shoulder with him, Ides could see it even more clearly. His hair hung lank, eyes glassy, and the death grip he kept on the bottle highlighted his bloodless knuckles and dark fingernails. The man was one solid hit away from falling to pieces completely.

His nearly blue lips quirked in a smile before he turned to leave, and the only thing to keep Ides company was the brushing sound of the sail filling and drooping in the intermittent wind.

A flock of seagulls passed overhead, heading north for land and home. He watched until they disappeared into the distant sapphire sky.

____________________________________________________

That evening, Guy gathered the party in his quarters for dinner. “I wanted to check in on everyone, see if you’ve got your sea-legs under you yet.” He turned a little to his left, where Rue was seated next to him at the round table. “I think I already know,” he said, amused.

A slow grin spread over her face. “I love this. I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed open water.”

Oda, to Rue’s left, was next.

The tabaxi shrugged, pawing a biscuit around her plate. “I like not being in a bag.”

Eridin was well on his way to being drunk. “This is a nice ship.”

“Thank you, it’s my pride and joy, aside from the inn of course.”

“And the booze is amazing.”

“What kind of captain would I be?” Guy shrugged modestly.

Ides was next. “Saw some birds, tried not to get seasick.”

He chuckled. “You’ll get used to it quick enough.’

‘Blank?”

“Pretty quiet.” She took a long sip of wine.

Guy nodded, processing the reports. Then he cleared his throat. “We need to address a few things. Many of the crew have already come forward with concerns. Oda especially, you are not helping your case much with the lies you’re spreading.”

“They’re the liars, not me!”

“Enough. You weren’t there. None of us even saw you until the very end of the fight.”

“I was there for the time that mattered!”

Rue reached over and cuffed her none too gently upside the head.

“Fine,” she hissed, glaring daggers at both Rue and Guy. “I’ll stop.”

“Blank, some of the guys have been thrown off with how candid you are about your memory loss.”

She looked confused. One hand pinched around the stem of her glass as if for support. “Am I not supposed to tell them?”

“At least phrase it a little better. Or, just don’t mention it at all.”

Oda’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I have to stop lying, and she has to start?” She slouched down in her seat. “Your crew is really judgemental.”

“They don’t trust people without a past.”

When he turned to the other side of the table, Rue quietly added, "Or people with one, either."

Ides was unsure why she’d been allowed to board at all. Hadn’t she admitted to a past alliance with the enemy? Even if she was no longer associated with them, she still struck him as a loose cannon. He wouldn’t trust her if his life, or anyone else's, depended on it.

“Now. Eridin,” Guy was saying, "would you care to share something with the party?”

“Not really." He pushed the food around on his plate, spearing a potato with his fork. "Just know that the evil we face is closer to home than some of you think.”

“You told one of my men that we were going to face a dragon? What the hells?”

Eridin gestured widely, agitated. “I’ve seen it!”

“Seen what?”

“The dragon!”

“I’ve seen a dragon before too,” Oda said. “You’re not that special.”

“No, no, you don’t understand." His hands moved as if he were trying to claw the words from the air. "A black dragon.”

The table erupted into chaos and overspoken words.

Oda dropped her fork. “I didn’t sign up for black dragons! When, where, why, how?”

“I don’t know, all I know is that they have one, and that we need to be prepared!”

“Who is ‘they’?” someone demanded.

“The organization!” He seemed to have a hard time even spitting out the name. “Zandeer!”

“Okay.” Guy sat back, holding out a hand to quiet the party “If this is true and Zandeer really does have a black dragon, this information does not leave this room.” He speared a glance at Eridin. “No more than it already has.” He sighed, and turned again to Rue, changing the subject. “Thane is worried about you, and about something you said to him earlier?”

“I know." She played with the end of her long braid, which seemed to be a habit of hers. "I’ll try to talk to him again but we both know where the other stands right now.”

“And where do you stand?”

“That is between me and him,” she responded stiffly.

Guy didn’t press the matter. “I am going to ask that you all take a shift on the watch tonight, it will build some trust with the crew. On your down time, I’d encourage you to try your hand at cards in the hold. They enjoy a good game.”

“I’ll take the first watch with Oda.” Rue volunteered. The tabaxi was already getting herself into trouble, and Ides had a moment’s concern that the longer those two worked together the more they’d take on like oil and fire. Chaos always seemed to attract chaos.

Blank spoke up for the second, and Ides resigned himself to the third.

Guy spoke for the third as well and gave Eridin a hard look. “Sleep off whatever this is and you’ll take the second with Blank.”

Eridin groaned.

“Before we go any farther,” Ides cut in before they could disperse, “I’d like to know what we’re working with here. If I’m fighting next to you, I need to know what you’re capable of.”

“Stealth!” Oda piped up.

“Magic,” Eridin offered, “And one might say I was an archer in a past life.”

Rue looked pleased with herself. “I can use just about any weapon I can get my hands on, and I know a fair bit of magic.”

“Magic,” Blank shrugged. “Not much else.”

Guy flexed. “I literally have a metal arm. I’m a war veteran and a pretty tough old bastard.”

“Cool!” Oda chirped, inspecting the silverware to see if it were really silver.

Ides provided information in kind. “I have nothing in the way of stealth, but I am fast. Frontlines kinda guy.”

“Up close and personal, huh?” Guy asked.

“I like to punch things.”

Guy dismissed them for the evening, and Ides went straight to his room, hoping to sleep off what sea-sickness was left. He was thankful that Eridin chose to continue drinking with the crew, the constant griping about the accommodations was wearing on his nerves.

He was not one to fear the dark, but Ides tread the nightfall with caution. Nightmares lurked like monsters in the shadows, and he never knew when they'd strike. He'd stopped fighting them a long time ago, letting them serve as an evergreen reminder of what he'd lost. Rage and revenge were all he had left in the world, and the nightmares fueled the fire that kept him driving ever closer to the heart of Zandeer. All the same, he was tired, and he prayed for a quiet night.

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Thanks for reading part 6 of my ongoing series! It chronicles the adventures of a long-running D&D campaign I’ve been participating in for over two years.

Start here: Part One

Next update: Part Seven