The story I am about to relate has a most saddening beginning. On the 9th day of March in the year 602, I happened to have the good fortune to be traveling with a group of wild elves. Amongst this group was a powerful healer known simply as Elder, a strong young warrior known as Suikoden, and a celestial caster called DeMeara. I had spent most of the morning relaxing in the tavern with DeMeara, as there were fierce monsters about, and neither of us was powerful enough to destroy them without spending a large part of our magical energies.
Sometime in the afternoon, though, Elder and Suikoden came in looking for us, and they immediately asked me where DeMeara was. I turned around to the exact place she had been standing, and quickly realized that she was gone. I glanced all about the tavern, but it was no good, she seemed to be gone. I apologized profusely to Elder, and he reassured me that there was nothing I could have done, as she had probably been abducted by spirits from beyond this world.
I asked Elder where we might go to look for her, and he replied that she would return when the time was right. It was then that I realized that DeMeara was gone, and that I was at least in part to blame for this occurrence. I felt awful, but nonetheless realized that I must continue to attend to my duties faithfully, so that no more lives might be lost. Such is the lot of a healer. There is so much carnage in this world that us healers barely have time to mourn before we must go off to help others.
In this case, my chance to help others came up very soon. A ghost, calling herself Captain Kidd, arrived in the tavern. She said that she would help us retrieve an ancirent treasure that was stored on her pirate ship. Knowing that the treasure was necessary to our efforts, Elder, Suikoden, and I all agreed to help retrieve the treasure. Coming along with us for the quest were the rogue known as Pinky and a healer whose name I did not catch.
Captain Kidd led us to her pirate ship, which was docked not far from the town. This detail would become extremely important later on, when the tide would turn against us. Captain Kidd warned us that the ship was very unstable and could not hold more than five people unless we paid her silver. Because we only had five people, this did not seem to be a major concern to us. We climbed up the dock and observed the ship.
To put it mildly, the ship was a wreck. I was surprised that it was even still floating. Most of the floorboards were gone, and only a few were still floating around. Unfortunately, those that were had explosive traps on them. If one were to fall into the water, it would take them three seconds to climb back onto the dry floorboards. The only area where there was safe, dry, solid wood was right near the entrance. We had to get across from the entrance to a door on the other side of the ship, which appeared to be magically guarded.
We entered the ship, and were immediately attacked by undead. We managed to defeat the first few and solidified our position on the solid floorboards just inside the entrance. While I used my bow to fire arrows, Shikoden held solid with his sword, giving Pinky enough time to sweep aside some traps. Unfortunately, though, Suikoden was soon forced to abandon his position and jump out towards one of the floating floorboards in the middle of the ship. Even more unfortunately, that floorboard contained an explosive trap that Pinky had not yet been able to sweep aside. The explosive force knocked Shikoden back into the entrance, and knocked all his equipment into the water. Without our fighter, we were all forced to withdraw out of the pirate ship and onto the docks outside.
Fortunately for us, Pinky had some equipment on him, and he was able to outfit Suikoden well enough to allow us to surge through the entrance once again. This time, though, the undead were more than ready for us. They cut us off so that they trapped Pinky and Elder inside, and they paralyzed Suikoden and the other healer. I myself was twice hit with blows that should have paralyzed me, but luckily my Magic Armor took the first hit and my regular armor took the second hit.
Realizing that we were losing the fight badly, I took off running, ran the path back to town, found a group of adventurers, and begged them for help. I explained that my group was paralyzed and that several of our number were trapped inside. The band of adventurers quickly assembled themselves and came with me to aid my companions.
They managed to move Suikoden and the paralyzed healer out of harm's way, and they managed to rescue Pinky and Elder, who had been shackled to the wall inside the pirate ship. They fought with the undead, trying to get across the ship to the treasure we were looking for, but met with little success. Captain Kidd became very displeased with all of the new people who were now on her ship, and demanded payment. The adventurers responded by telling her that they would pay her in death. She became enraged and attacked them, but they managed to defeat her.
Unfortunately, I did not know that Captain Kidd had turned violent inside the ship, as I was milling around outside. She materialized outside and swung her weapon at me. I do not know why, but for some reason I saw her blow coming, and managed to use my bow to block it. I took off running, and Captain Kidd took off after me. Luckily for me, I was faster than the ghost, and I managed to once again make it back towards town. When the townspeople saw me run right into the center of town, they asked me what was wrong, and I explained the situation. Quickly a second rescue mission was dispatched.
When I arrived back at the pirate ship with the new help, the tide began to turn. With the nobles now giving the orders, things were much more organized, and we were rotating the people in the pirate ship to keep everyone fresh. I was dispatched to retrieve the rogue known as Riker, and with the combined efforts of him, Pinky, and the fighters and casters, we soon managed to make it across to the door on the other side of the ship. Unfortunately, the door was warded, and we needed a ward key to break it. The ward key, though, had been split into many pieces, and so we needed to rebuild it.
A very clever puzzle breaker outside managed to rebuild the ward key with some help from Elder, and we were finally able to open the warded door. Inside, Riker and Pinky went to work unlocking the treasure chest. They did so with great efficiency and skill, and soon the treasure was being divided up in the tavern. Captain Kidd had been defeated, we had the item that we so desperately needed, and it could ultimately be called a successful quest
Before I end this writing, I must add two notes. First, I must give thanks to the Baron of Cumberland, as he re-equipped myself, Suikoden, and Elder with most of the equipment we lost on the pirate ship. Second, as a postscript, I must say that DeMeara did in fact re-appear later as Elder had predicted she would, a little worse for the wear, but seemingly unfazed by whatever it was she had faced. She is indeed a brave soul.
Scribed by Seronia on the 28th day of March in the year 602.