“Dance, puppet!” he shouted.

  Elsetha finished chanting, sending a lance of bright light into the side of the man. It pierced through the fabric and dug into the side of his chest, throwing him off balance and dropping his health by a quarter. Arlo took advantage of the opening and drove the end of his sword into the man’s chest. It sank in to the hilt, and the man shuddered.

  A voice screamed from the deck of the other ship. “NOOO! My love!!”

  I looked over and saw the mage, a woman made of water that wore dark blue robes, looking toward us. Katarina ran towards her, but was blown back by a thunderous retort with the casual flick of her wrist. She held her hands aloft, summoning spirals of flame from the night sky.

  “Oh gods no, not fire,” a crew member cried out.

  The mage chanted, screaming incoherent words as she created a great twisting maelstrom of flame above the vessel. The flames shifted, twisting in on themselves and condensing into a roaring cyclone of fire that reached high into the night sky above the woman, whose watery skin began to boil.

  “You will all burn! For what you’ve—” her screams were cut off as Hannah appeared from the shadows behind the woman, shoving a wide-bladed dagger through the back of the woman’s neck. The woman collapsed, and the whirling inferno above exploded.

  We were thrown from the boat. One moment we stood upon the deck, my fingers beginning to perform the first notes of Radiant Winds. A second later I was crashing into the frigid ocean as burning chunks of wood rained from the sky. I sent the lute to my inventory and struggled against the waves. Both ships were aflame. A crate floated nearby, and I latched onto it, looking around. Arlo struggled, beginning to sink under the waves, pulled by the weight of his armor.

  Chanter: Send your armor to your inventory, quick!

  I watched as his armor vanished and he began kicking himself back towards the surface. Lesh soared overhead, screeching. Tobias and Elsetha treaded water nearby. Abernathy splashed frantically.

  “I can’t swim” he gurgled, sinking below the waves.

  I enacted Transform, holding on to the crate and shifting, sending my boots to my inventory. My feet widened, webbing growing between my toes. My skin sprouted with thick, water-resistant fur. A strong tail grew from my back and I dove into the waves.

  I cut through the water with ease in my Otterkin form, reaching Abernathy and grabbing one flailing hand. He had retained enough sense of mind to keep from breathing in water. I pulled him from the depths. He spluttered, coughing, as we broke the surface of the water. I swam him over to the crate.

  Chanter: Katarina, Hannah, are you alright?

  Katarina: I have Hannah, but she is knocked out and injured.

  I pulled up the mini-map and saw their blips, on the other side of the burning ships. I dove below the waves, moving through the water with powerful kicks. It felt natural in this form. I crossed the distance in seconds, emerging from the waves and taking Hannah from Katarina.

  “Holy shit!” Katarina gurgled as I emerged and took Hannah. “You scared the shit out of me, lute-boy!”

  “Sorry about that.” I replied. Katarina looked around with wide eyes.

  “Did any of the crew see you?”

  I hadn’t thought of that. I cursed softly, looking over at the mini-map again. There were a few blips from NPCs, but none were around us.

  “I think we are alright.” I replied.

  Arlo: Did you get Hannah?

  Chanter: Yeah, I got her. We are heading back over now.

  “One sec,” Katarina said, swimming up alongside the ship. Both ships were now fully engulfed in flames. As I watched, she kicked out of the water, stepping on the surface of water like it was solid for a second, flipping up over the small boat that was strapped to the side of the ship. She cut it free with a series of quick motions with a knife, jumping away as it crashed to the waves.

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  I pulled Hannah over to the small boat and managed to flip it over with Katarina’s assistance. Katarina climbed in and took Hannah, pulling her. I pulled myself up a moment later, shifting back to my human form as Katarina poured a healing potion over Hannah.

  Hannah coughed, shifting and sitting up as Katarina pulled two oars from below the bench seats that ran perpendicular to the boat.

  “What happened?” Hannah started to ask, her eyes going wide as she took in the burning ships.

  Someone screamed in the waves. It was a brief sound, quickly overcome by a gurgle and then silence. Another voice screamed in the dark.

  Tobias: Theres something in the water. We need to get out of here.

  Katarina: We have the small boat, making our way to you!

  Abernathy: Be quick! What are those? Tentacles? With teeth?!

  Katarina manuevered the boat around. I took a deep breath and shifted back to my otterkin form, sliding back into the water to help push the boat.

  Something large shifted below the waves, partially illuminated by the burning ships above. Long tendrils reached from the depths. I saw one reaching for Abernathy’s rotund, quivering form. I pulled one of the poisoned daggers from my inventory, releasing the boat and swimming. I swam as fast as I could, parting the water like an arrow, intercepting the reaching tentacle and stabbing it.

  The appendage immediately retracted back into the depths, but not before I saw a Poisoned notification. Several other tentacles that had been snaking towards the group sank back into the depths.

  I swam Abernathy to the boat, then assisted the others, keeping a wary eye out towards the depths. The tentacles didn’t return. After getting Arlo into the boat, I climbed in and shifted back to human form.

  Katarina paddled us around, and we found five surviving crew members. We also came across a single surviving pirate, which Tobias dispatched with a carefully aimed shot.

  I performed Radiant Winds as we made our way back to shore, topping off everyone’s health. It took about twenty minutes. We received the notification as the flickering lights of the city docks came into view.

  Quest Failed. Foil the Pillagers Plot.

  Okay, yes, you stopped the pirates, technically. But the ship and cargo were destroyed. Foil the Pillagers Plot. Successful completion of this quest requires the Tide’s Mistress remain intact with all goods remaining on board. Since that didn’t happen, no rewards.

  “Well, shit.” Katarina said.

  We left the boat and surviving crew members at the docks. The streets of Verdantbrook were mostly empty in the early morning hours as we made our way back to the Adventurer Guild.

  A sleepy elven woman I had never seen before was manning the desk. She left to wake the Guild Master, who met with us in the mostly empty guild tavern half an hour later.

  Arlo explained what happened, with others filling in details here and there. She was happy that we had all gotten out of the situation relatively unscathed, and said that she would speak with the Mayor on the matter in the morning.

  “Oh!” the elven woman at the desk called as our meeting came to an end. “A new escort mission was submitted a few hours ago! It leaves first thing in the morning, if you think you are all up for it.”

  After a brief discussion we decided to take advantage of the lucky break, especially since failing the previous quest. Arlo accepted the mission on behalf of the party and a new notification appeared.

  New Quest! Escort Balen Guthook to Fort Ethers and back. Reward: Bronze Journeyman Chest, Silver Coin x10, Moderate Healing Potion x5.

  It was a Iron ranked escort mission to a nearby fort to the south. A merchant, laden with dried fish and other food supplies, required protection through the rolling grasslands and arid desert to the south. It would take two days to get there, then another two days to return once the shipment had been delivered.

  Hannah convinced Katarina to join us at the inn to unwind a little before getting some rest. We would meet with Balen in the morning and depart at first light.

  We spent an hour or so in the tavern talking and getting to know Katarina. I found out there was a small group of humans in the city that specialized in martial arts. They lived almost monk-like lives of simplicity, maintaining a small training temple on the southern edge of the city.

  The party talked around as I spent the last part of the night in what had become a ritual — healing drunken patrons.

  A large dwarven man approached as we were preparing to go to our separate rooms to sleep. His beard stuck out in thick red tuffs and he wore battered plate armor.

  “Heard you’ns were going out to that fort to tha south,” he said. It was difficult to make out his words; he was hammered, but refused my offer of healing.

  “That’s right,” Arlo said. “What’s up?”

  “What’s up is that road’s deadly dangerous. I seen’em. Hidin’ in the dunes. They ate up my donkey. Barely escaped with my life.”

  “What did you see?” I asked. We all leaned forward, concerned and curious.

  “Red eyes, scales the color of sand. Fangs big’as me arm.”