Sira Saran: The Island of Illusions

We were stranded on a cliffy island and our ship in sight but out of reach.

So we tried a walk the beach approach, with some difficulties on the way, first this huge chest of gold that the capt'n found in the sand. Too good to be true at all. A bit later it vanished into pure air.

A bit later we found a cave with a dragon and i hate dragons! I tried to get as much space between him and myself, but the dragon did some amazing things he was nice for one and he offered tea and refreshments and Carlton dissappeared, showed Helene and Krastus his library of books about magical theory and then the impossible happened, Helene vanished too.

The dragon showed us the way to a teleportationman and he teleported us to the evil lich of the island. There the Capt'n and Krastus vanished and I was last to kill the lich.

I vanished too and then had fluffy fur and long ears. I was a bunny.

We were in a prison of some kind and a fishy lady told us it was her island and we were not invited so we had to amuse her or die.

After some really unfunny tries to tell pirate jokes the queen decided about a duel between one of us and a magical creature.
The fight was rough and I could do nothing as a bunny with paws and miniturized pistols.

Somehow someone managed to make the queen laugh and we were returned to our ship all well and unharmed.

Cortez: Island of Lies

We have narrowly escaped an Island of Lies. Or perhaps illusions is a better word. It was one of the more bizarre experiences of my life. After we escaped the sharks beasts and found ourselves stranded... I dug into the sand and found a chest of gold. A lot of gold. The memory of this find is amazing, but disturbing. Since I was so convinced that it was real, and that it was mine... and then I suddenly thought how strange it was, and when I turned around, it was gone.

It is hard to repeat the journey, even on paper, since it was so fantastical that I find it embarrassing to recount, even if magic was involved. For who would have believed that we would dig up 100,000 pieces of eight... and then visit a friendly dragon who had a library filled with fanciful magic books, a dwelling which both Helene and Krastus vanished in a blink of blue light. Then we were sent out a back door to meet a... this pains me to write... Teleportation Monster. Who preferred the term Teleportation Person.

And it gets worse. Since we consented to be teleported to an evil Lich's house, rather than visit Buster the Giant Friendly Albatross... Serene vanished... and both Carlton and I attacked the Lich, took painful wounds on ourselves, and vanished... only to appear in a cell of sorts... and then a tiny bunny-rabbit wearing all of Sira's guns appeared...

I supposed what we were seeing was now reality, since we were in a cell, with strange guards who took us to see a girl ruler who was some sort of sorceress. She wanted us to entertain her with some stories or actions... but we couldn't do that. So she decided for us to draw straws and fight a hellhound in a pit.

Carlton drew the short stick and was cast into the pit. He got off a good hit on the beast, but soon was overwhelmed. Krastus decided to leap into the pit as well... and as soon as he did, a second hellhound appeared and in a massive explosion of magic... Krastus killed it. But then Krastus was also unconscious from the effort... it was not a good moment.

I stepped forward and begged the sorceress for mercy. She demanded entertainment, so I tried a joke I had heard. I saw her crack a smile, but said it wasn't good enough. She proceeded to turn Krastus into a mirror image of Serene. Which upset her quite a bit. Serene, that is. Krastus was still knocked out. I tried another joke, this one much riskier as if I failed, the hellhound was to rip Carlton apart. But apparently the joke worked and the sorceress began giggling. She said we could have a wish. Carlton blurted out he wanted Krastus to be back to normal.

And so it is that we find ourselves back on our new ship... uninjured, physically that is, and making haste from this accursed island. 

Hélène: A new beginning

It has been several months since our last trip, and I had set up a small livelihood in New Madrid. Things were calm and pleasant, yet I knew the ocean level was still rising, undetectably slowly but steadily. I had only casually followed the construction of the new ship, unwittingly financed by one Barton Grey, but as the work neared completion, a message from our former Captain reached me, summoning me to a meeting with the others. Our previous voyage had certainly not always been a pleasure, but somehow I missed life at sea, at least a bit, also I felt that I had a responsibility to provide a voice of reason. So I decided to pick up this small journal again, and I went.

Captain Cortés, or Grip, as he now called himself, had convincingly adjusted to his new body, but what else could he have done, given the situation. The others were more apparently their old selves, for better or for worse, as I would learn during the conversation. The new ship was ready, and this time, Master Krastus established that there would be a secret compartment installed from the start. He also established that he still didn't hold non-scurillian life in high regard, and several of his other suggestions had to be turned down for ethical reasons. The crew asked me to provide a route for our maiden voyage and, together with Equias, purchase suitable supplies and cargo. On this, I had a slight disagreement with Sira, who insisted that we stocked enough ammunition and powder to wage at least a decade of uninterrupted naval warfare.

Another issue was the name of the new ship. There were several suggestions thrown about, too many of which involved one of Carlton's relatives, or favourite animals, but in the end we agreed to call our new brigantine the "Windseeker", a name acceptable to everyone. We agreed to make our individual preparations to leave port shortly, and I hustled to make the necessary purchases, both wholesale and private.

Soon, the time had come, and carrying my few belongings, I boarded the ship for the first time. Old and seaworn vessels may have a soul of their own, as they say, but a brand new ship, carrying the odour of fresh, radiantly bright wood, bears a different kind of fascination. With a crew assembled by our Captain, mostly old friends and acquaintances, but also some fresh faces, we left the harbour and turned south towards Taratos. The new ship was swift and expertly designed, and it was a pleasure to sail on it, especially when the voyage was uneventful and blessed with marvelous weather. Indeed, the next two days we could enjoy the best parts of seafaring, mostly free from legitimate worries, at least until we spotted the island.

The island I'm referring to was a small place, off the coast of Taratos, a place you would normally keep your distance from, as an uninviting, shark-infested offshore reef, with rocks sticking out of the sea, and many more lurking beneath the surface, waiting for the opportunity to cut open an unwary ship's hull. In fact, they had apparently claimed a victim, as the shattered remains of a longboat demonstrated. On the island proper, we could spot figures waving at us, as it in distress. After short consideration, we found that although we had not always been properly rewarded for our helpfulness, a majority was still in favour of rendering aid to any soul in need. As we didn't want to endanger our ship, we anchored rather far off, and climbed into our rowboat.

My companions manned the oars, while my job was to take the tiller, and we rowed towards the island, across those treacherous rocks. For the most part, navigating the reef seemed challenging, yet doable, but then the sharks decided to attack our boat, with much more coordination and aggressiveness than we had planned for. They were huge, darting out of the water, and had little reservation against lunging halfway on deck and biting at people, furiously. At the aft, I was in an exposed position, and soon I had three of the beasts snapping at me, and found it increasingly hard to spot the reefs and keep the boat on course. The others, themselves, were beset by sharks, although by fewer ones, relatively speaking.

I hoped that aid would come, but this wasn't the case. The situation on board was confusing, and through the chaos, I thought I spotted Master Krastus and Carlton quarrelling, at such an opportune time. And was this a new axe our Archmage clutched, one that dripped blood just like the cursed one we had barely gotten rid of half a year ago?

I got grabbed and torn to the side by one of the sharks, and since there was no one to support me otherwise, I had no other choice than to summon my water effigy, to help me defend against the onslaught. But it was too late, as we had already veered off course, and our boat hit a rock rather violently, ejecting most of its passengers, including me. Already bleeding enticingly, I was immediately surrounded by several of the beasts. While the others had swum to the shore, the Captain rushed to my aid, grabbed me and dragged me ashore. Exhausted, shaken and wounded, and with the rush of battle subsiding, I collapsed on the beach. One thing I noticed, though, is that it was eerily silent here, and there was no sound of the shipwrecked sailors we had spotted earlier, nor any trace of their wrecked boat.

Krastus: Getting the hang of it...

So we have our new ship, the Wind Chaser. It is big, and almost suitable for a mage of my prestige.

Before we left I went shopping - it seemed the crew wished to be all soft and trader-ish once more. But I knew the captain would eventually offend someone, or end up selling his soul, or hiring on with slavers....so I made sure I had a few more manacles just in case. One can never have enough.

I also bought a great axe for when I need one, and I had the pieces of the bloody axe that I'd taken from the old ship reforged into a new smaller battle axe.

As it happens, while we were near Jomba Town, I had cause to use it.

We saw some shipwrecked people so we went to help in our long boat. On our way in we were boarded by shark creatures. I naturally went to deal with them. Unfortunately the next thing I knew the ship was on the reef, Carlton was screaming at me and most everyone was overboard. Really. These people can't do anything without me. Very disorganised.

I dispatched the remaining sharks - with some help from the others - so that we could rescue Helene who had got into a spot of bother. She needs a bit more work as a mage. All that healing is very useful, but if she gets herself killed then her healing won't help too much. Or maybe we'd get some kind of zombie Helene who touches people and leaves behind parts of her body. That seems worse.

With my help we finally got to shore. And there...well. There was nothing. This is a problem. A real problem.

Carlton Grey and the Return of the Crazy Crab

So we finally launched our new ship. We spent a lot of name naming it, and in the end we decided on Windseeker. I guess it’s an okay name, but we could have had something really great like Flying Avocado, or Rabid Mongoose. I did not say anything though, fearing that we would never leave the port if I did.

Finally we went out to sea again. Sadly we had to do some trading, but thankfully that did not last long. We saw some people shipwrecked on an island, and we went to save them.  They were threatened by sharks, who obviously did not know a lot about themselves, because they thought they could climb out of the sea. This made them sort of dangerous, but I guess we could have killed them with ease, had Krastus not turned on us again with his stupid blood dripping killer axe. Maybe he was afraid that after people thought us dead, he could not be the crazy murdering crab anymore, and thought that he had to do something to restore his image.

Anyway, I had to subdue Krastus with my hat again, while the others dealt with the sharks. Heléne got into trouble, because she jumped in the wrong direction from the ship. I think she could not see the island of something. 

In the end we all got to the island, but the shipwrecked people were nowhere to be seen. All that remained of them, was some girly laughter, so they might have turned into Chinese girls like Krastus did earlier. I guess now we can look for them on the island, scouting out places that Chinese women like. Maybe we will even find another dragon, to get a new figurehead for the ship. But first we need to get rid of that stupid, bloody axe.

Sira Saran: The New Voyages of the Windseeker

A year passed fast and there was a lot to do. Equiping the new ship and hiring new crew.
Everything went fine and finally we set sails from New Madrid to Joomba Town with some trade and profit goods.

The new ship is fast and quiet well armed. We'll see how that holds up against the dangers of Caribdus.

A few days into our first voyage we saw some people stranded on a small reefed island, their longboat destroyed in the cliffs. Since we are nice people, the Kieran Empire would deny that, we tried our best to save them.

So we approached the island with our small dinghi and were attacked by a mass of landsharks.
It was a ruthless fight and we did use every trick up our sleeves to get them.

In the end we killed enough to make the rest flee from the beach but our dinghi was damaged and there is something strange about the island, really strange!

Cortez: Everything is the same!

We have set sail with our new vessel! The Wind Seeker. And we have decided to engage in some honest trade in that matter. I recruited a fair number of sailors to travel with us and we set out from New Madrid to make our fortunes... and save the world.

It wasn't long before we were a day's travel from Jomba Town, where our prior-identities rescued a number of slaves! But here we spotted some distressed folks shipwrecked on an island. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to rescue some more people and get ourselves a good reputation going forward.

The reef surrounding the island was difficult, and so we had to leave our Brigantine anchored away from it while we took a long boar to the beach. Land Sharks, of some sort, assaulted us. They were able to travel from the water to the ship rather easily and were quite problematic. Nothing too difficult, of course, but they did try to bite Helene... a lot.

But this is where things changed... and went back to being just like before. Krastus began attacking Carlton. For no reason which we could immediately see, but then Carlton shouted that Krastus was using a blood-dripping axe... again! It seemed our Crab Archmage reforged the pieces of the broken axe into a new axe and was, once again, under some sort of berserking rage.

I had to abandon Helene to her own devices while I tried to disarm Krastus and save Carlton. After all, Sharks are dangerous, but a battle-hardened archmage is downright deadly.

In the course of our fighting, the long boat drifted and crashed into a set of rocks, sending us flying. I hit the ship itself, while many of the sharks, and our crew were hurled into the water. Helene was very bad off, but I was able to swim to her, and distract the sharks while Carlton and Sira made shots to kill them...

We made it to the island, at least... and things are the same... no one is here. We were duped. All I heard was some little girl giggling and there are no survivors around to rescue. Some sort of magic, for sure, and our ship is damaged so we HAVE to go deeper in the island and search out some hardwood to get back to the Wind Seeker.

Hélène: The end of a voyage

The port official had been suspicious, and in order to contact a professional forger, Carlton had left the ship unsupervised. This worried me greatly, and for a good reason. Before Carlton had returned, the Kieran militia had decided to act again, and this time in force. We spotted several dozen, later even more than a hundred soldiers getting into positions along the quay, erecting barricades and artillery. Meanwhile a heavy chain from the bottom of the harbour was pulled taut, to block entry and exit.

Finally, a military officer came aboard, together with a large entourage. I had hoped that they, too, saw the virtual impossibility that our grael was Captain Cortés. The Captain, however, hadn't done too much to emphasise that point, and it was open to speculation to whom Carlton had spoken in the mean time, and to what extent he had blabbed. Hence, this time the Kierans they were determined, more than ever, to investigate all that on their own terms.

Thus, the Captain was given an ultimatum. Ship and crew were to be surrendered within two hours, else they would respond in force. Under the watchful eyes of the Kierans, we consulted, and while most of the crew hadn't had too much say in the chain of the events that had made our ship a national enemy, we suspected that the Kieran judicial system wasn't a very lenient nor discriminating one. Early on, the Captain had decided that going out with a large spectacle was the way to go, but kindly enough, we made plans to evacuate the crew first, across the bottom of the harbour.

So we used the remainder of our time to pack a few belongings, split up our remaining funds, and prepare the Grandpa's Revenge for her final act of defiance. Master Krastus and Kyrie assigned groups of crew members to enchant and accompany. Our magical sails and rigging were too valuable to sacrifice, so we prepared them for evacuation, as well, but since we couldn't take our magical figurehead with us, we could only try to shield it from the explosion as well as possible, and maybe salvage it from the sea afterwards.

As the time drew near, we dove into the water, in the assigned groups, while the Captain stayed on board longer, in order to prime our large cargo of gunpowder we had picked up on our previous visit. We had decided we would disperse into the city in small groups, in order to remain undetected. Once out of the water, I watched the proceedings alone from a space near the harbour, dripping wet and affected with more than a trace of sadness and guilt, but somehow I also felt a tremendous relief.

Our ship was engulfed by a large, fiery explosion that sent a violent shock wave onto the quay, and all over the city, and the crippled carcass sank beneath the waves with what little dignity it had left. To some, it may have been an awesome, beautiful spectacle, to me it largely wasn't.

When I had seen enough, I hustled into the city, amid the chaos and confusion caused by the explosion, and found an inn in which to stay for the night. The following day, at noon, as we had agreed on, I clandestinely met with the other officers and a few of our most trusted crewmen in the tavern "Swollen Eye", where we had stayed months ago, when our adventures had just begun, and it was a fitting symbolism that they ended there, too. I was relieved to see that everyone, including the Captain and Carlton, had survived the escape, and there were new plans to be made.

If the Captain was devastated by the loss of his ship, one could not tell, for with unbridled optimism he was already planning his next voyage. The ship was gone, and there was little money left, but my companions felt there might be a way. To finance a ship, using the good name of the ever-popular Barton Grey, Carlton was to secure a loan from no other than the Kieran National Bank. Over the course of the next few months, we would then find passage to New Madrid, where this ship, possibly a brigantine, would be purpose-built for our next voyage.

I felt that to me personally, moving to New Madrid was a prospect somewhat more attractive than staying in Kiera, so taking a ship there struck me as a good choice. Maybe in a couple of months, with all the bad memories past us, I'd miss the seafaring life, and I'd meet with the others again.

Krastus: I told them so

I told them.

No-one ever listens to Krastus. No-one. But I told them. And I was right.

Our ship? It is now at the bottom of the Kieran harbour. Our lives? Erased as we declare ourselves dead.

And all because no-one ever listens to Krastus.

We rigged the ship to blow, and I cut a hole in the bottom of the boat for us to escape from. We took all the money - and I grabbed all my items - and we swam away.

Having secured money through deception - and rejecting my much cheaper 'Steal a ship with menaces/pincers' option, because no-one listens to Krastus - we went across to New Madrid with what remains of the crew and are now commissioning a new ship. Time wasted. Time the world may not have.

I have a lot of time for the captain and the others, they are acceptable inferior beings. I even approximate worry for them at times, and concern. But if they continue to ignore me then I can only keep them alive for so long. Even with all of my skills. Silly humans and other such.

Oh, and hopefully that Kraken they hired on is gone. He is probably the other spy. And he is probably the one that sold us out. They should all be burnt in some kind of pit, the filthy evil little things.

Oh, and the captain hasn't yet worked out that we still have a spy in the crew, so the Kierans are still onto us. But, I won't spoil his fun just yet. A little bit of clueless bliss is good for his royal Walrusity.

Carlton Grey and the Big Boom of Grendpa's Revenge

It turns out, that getting things done in Kiera is always harder than it seems. Maybe it’s a whale thing. I easily located the place where I could get the papers we needed, but some people started following me, so I had to ask them not to. They did not seem to understand, so I asked them again. It turns out, they just wanted to have some sort of chat. I talked to them for a while, and then finally we could go in our separate ways. Some people can be weird.

Anyway I managed to find the guy with the papers, and he named his price. All that was left for me was to return to the ship, and tell the others about it. This again proved difficult, because there were a lot of people around the docks. Apparently there was a blockade going on because of some dangerous criminals, who were in the same dock as our ship. 

I had to be sneaky and clever to get back to our ship, but that was easy. I told the others about the paper-guy, but they did not seem to be interested in it anymore. As it turns out, the Kieran police confused us with those dangerous criminals they were hunting, and wanted to shoot at us. The captain decided that we would blow up the ship before they could blow it up, which was a bit weird, but I did not want to argue about it. Thankfully we could escape underwater before this happened, so no one got hurt.

I was sorry to see our ship blow up, although it was a really amazing sight. Now we have to get a new one, which is a bit more problematic than I thought. First we had to get some loan from a bank in my brother’s name. I was a bit conflicted about that, but in the end he is a nice guy, and this is supposedly about saving the world. We got the money pretty easily, I still don’t get why people worry about it constantly.

We had to sail away from Kiera and begin building our new ship which will take a lot of time. This is pretty annoying, but hopefully we can find something to occupy ourselves in the meantime. We will need to get a new dragon skull too, as the last one was blown up together with the ship.

Sira Saran: Once more with feeling!

Sailing into the harbor of Kiera hoping they won't recognise us again was a really unfortunate move!
So getting cornered like a rat in the bilge was only a foretold desaster.
What to do after the city guard starts to surround the ship and tries to get hold of us?
Just die! A plan was brought up and converted into action. I rigged all the remaining powder and some of the cannons and the capt'n went last.
We saved our precious sails and got out of the ship before it blew in a mighty explosion.

A really sad day for us. The Grandpa's Revenge was our home for the last voyages and held a lot of memories from our stupid exploits to make it in this mad world.

Half of our crew went their way, I can't blame them. It will take us some time to recover from this.

The next day we met in a tavern, hearing the stories about some pirates blowing themselves up in the harbor and went to our next plan: Getting money for a new ship.

Fraud seemed to be the only way to get out of Kiera and over to New Madrid.

So our Capt'n went to the bank of Kiera and with Carltons help secured a lot of money under the name "Barlton Grey", his twin brother. I have the feeling that we are getting the nice man involved in something he doesn't deserve!

With the money in hand we made our way to New Madrid. Actually buying a ship and equipment for our new voyage. We will see what the next year brings to us.

Cortez: A new start

Everything is different.

We've fled our enemies once and for all by claiming death has caught up to us. But death has not caught up to us at all. Instead we turned cannons onto our own ship and set forth such a spectacular explosion that convinced an entire empire that we had perished.

I suppose the ones they were most concerned with were Krastus and Myself. I'm hardly a menace, but that's not something very convincing of people. Either way, Grampa's Revenge is no more, and all crew, as far as people are concerned, have passed from this cursed world.

The truth of the matter is much simpler. We have obtained a loan, under questionable circumstances, and gone to New Madrid to have the shipwrights there build us a new ship. We will have to do things differently on this new ship. Hopefully different enough so that our former selves aren't linked to this ship. That would be a disaster at this point.

We still have a very small crew that is loyal to us. Maybe we should reform our payment system. I will talk to Helene about this in the next few weeks... or months. We have a long wait until the ship is ready.

I have a dread feeling that the one thing that will not be forgiven or forgotten is the dark shadow beings that are against me... and likely are very upset at the method in which I broke my terms of their hell-written contract. But maybe fortune will favor me, for once in my life.

Hélène: An unfathomable power

After the jailbreak, on our travels back west, we spotted what we first thought just a remnant of yet another submerged settlement. Little did we know at that time that the large statue of an armoured, rather nondescript man was a thoroughly magical construct, a gatekeeper for a mysterious, ancient power. But as we dove down and approached the plinth, we could hear a deep, resounding voice inquiring who of those approaching were "ready to undergo the Trial and confront their own strengths and weaknesses". Before we could decide on a course of action, of course, daring Carlton had answered in the affirmative, and things got into motion quicker than I could cope with.

Within a moment, we saw Carlton encased in a near transparent, yet utterly impassable cupola of whirling force, and we were confined to the role of spectators. Opposite of him, there was another, seemingly identical Carlton. Outwardly, there was no telling who was who, but then, while one of the Carltons started talking, the other one raised his musket and fired. His target was only grazed, though, and fired back in turn, but this shot hit its mark, and one of the Carltons collapsed in a gruesome display of blood, and then promptly disappeared.

The resounding voice stated the Trial was over, and Carlton could now state what reward he wished. Carlton, without much apparent consideration, wished that that twin of his really existed, and that he was the nicest person conceivable. Within a second, the voice replied that this wish had just been granted. Hearing this, I was doubtful, but also terrified of the possibility that there might indeed be a godlike power at work here, bowing to the whims of Carlton. For now, nothing perceivable had happened though, and the statue returned to asking who would take the Trial. This time, Master Krastus stepped forward.

This time, two indistinguishable scurillians fought a terrible mage's duel. And as we watched, the Captain speculated what one should wish for. He stated that by wishing that nobody would remember us, our problems would be solved, but it appeared that he had not pondered the consequences of such a wish at all. It was horrifying to thing that one could simply be forgotten by everyone, maybe even over and over again, being confined to a solitary half-life outside of other people's thoughts and lives, like a spirit trapped in the lands of the living, if such a thing were possible. The Captain found it hard to follow my concerns, apparently, and we were still discussing when the two Archmages had found a victor, who wished that he had a deep understanding of all things magical. He had been substituting raw power for more detailed knowledge of the arcane, and I felt he was shamed by the fact, though he did never display that. Again, this wish was granted in an instant, but there was no visible change for now.

The Captain had by now made up his mind, and had decided it was his turn now. Again, there were two Captains facing each other, and again, there was a combat, but this time it was a close one. Both drew their fencing weapons, and were prepared to duel to the death. Soon, both had suffered grievous injuries, and in the end, one of them went down and disappeared. Again, there was no telling which one had been the real Captain, or if this was a valid category at all, or if they were truly identical. I held my breath as the victor proclaimed his wish. Thankfully, the Captain did not follow through with his original wish, but he desired to become physically stronger.

To our horror, the wish was granted, in a fashion, and we had to watch the Captain's figure shift and distort until there was no longer the man we knew in front of us, but a large, blubbery grael that looked at us from his beady eyes. Dryly, the voice asked if anyone else was ready to undergo the Trial and claim their reward. My mind raced.

I was not at all prepared to kill anyone, much less myself, for a reward, even one as potentially invaluable as this one. Indeed, I considered this my strength and also my weakness. Yet, I was not sure if the guardian would follow this line of thought, or even, what its true purpose and intentions were. Would it force me to fight, or would it just leave me trapped there with myself for good? Who was that effigy, really, and if my decisions brought her into being, wouldn't it be an ethical necessity to allow her to take my place? Then again, any evil act I'd commit, I could order undone, but what if an imperfect wording backfired on me?

I was not prepared to take that risk and expose myself to such an unknown, godlike force. So I remained silent. As did Sira; she wasn't quite as mad as the others.

We returned to our ship, our crew needed to get accustomed to the fact that our Captain was now a walrus-man. His mind and memories seemed mostly intact, though, and he appeared in good physical shape, so the situation was not as bad as it could be. How our Captain coped with the change, as brutal and possibly irreversible as it was, was another thing. For now, he preferred to proceed ahead, and ordered the ship to sail on, towards the isle of Terras. There we would go ashore and approach the compound where the shipwrights were held, over land.

We agreed on a pick-up location, and Serene, Kylie and the others stayed aboard the ship as we others prepared for a short expedition. After just a while, we were on our way across the rocky countryside of Terras. After a few hours of march, we spotted a patrol in military garb, obviously part of the Kieran garrison, and we tried to hide. It turned out, though, that a few of us had picked their cover rather poorly, but amazingly enough, the soldiers appeared genuinely happy to see my comrades, recognising Carlton as one certain Barton Grey.

In my hiding place, I was terrified. Just so, this one hasty wish of Carlton's had really brought his twin brother into being, and in doing so, had profoundly altered the whole world to accommodate him, up to the very memories of these poor soldiers. They appeared genuinely happy to see this Barton again. They recognised Master Krastus, as well, for he was probably the most remarkable and infamous of us all, but they accepted Carlton's assurance that his presence here was just the way it should be. We could travel on, and when we arrived the outskirts of the settlement, we could spot its purpose. There was a ship's hull being built, barely half done, but evidently a new design that was far larger than any ship I had seen so far. Master Krastus estimated that completion was still months, if not years away.

We considered our options, and eventually decided to retreat for now, so we returned to our ship and sailed to the back side of the Kieran mainland. Since most of the timber would need to be imported, we could try to enter the settlement with a shipment of timber and some suitable documents. That would require sailing to Kiera again, though, and before we did that, we'd have to take care that Serene was safe from discovery. Master Krastus had made plans for a secret compartment earlier, and we found a hidden cove where he could cut the necessary wood and finish the work. On one occasion during our stay, we met a hunting party scouring the countryside, and they too were acquainted with Barton Grey, and praised him highly.

After a day or so, work was finished, and we had a space where about three people could stow away with little chance of being found when searched for with average enthusiasm. When we sailed back to Kiera, we could dock normally and were greeted by the usual harbour official. I had planned to make it appear as if the ship, including crew, had just transferred to a new captain, allowing us to shed some of the ill will we had accrued here and elsewhere. The harbour official questioned the "new captain", though, and sadly the transformation had taken its toll on the creativity and mental acuity of our dear Captain. So, when asked what his name was (customarily the first uttering a newborn grael would emit after birth) the Captain, after a short pause, bleated out "Wart...ez?". Oh dear.