Chapter 16, in which a drinking-contest is held, and a boiler almost explodes

Rhiannon Datwood
Rhia looked back ignoring the other hoping Iridal was still ok. She tried to look for her aura hoping to sense something... but Iridals aura must change when she changes form, for she saw nothing.

Red Un
"C'mon Rhia, there's nothin' more we can do about Iridal. May Durin protect her soul."

Red Un got below deck. As most elven ships, this one was equipped with both sails and oars. He sat down at one oar and waited for the others.

Vodok
The short dwarf followed Red Un and also took an oar and started to row as much as he could but the short dwarf alone didn’t get them so far. "C'MERE 'N' 'ELP ME!" The short dwarf yelled so the whole boat heard.

Red Un
Red Un sighed.

"Well, we won't get very far by rowing 'round in circles. I suggest that ya sit at the oar on the opposite side to mine. Then we'll row together."

Shukirogen
Shukirogen the dark paladin had been on a successful mercenary mission when the huge sea monster showed up and wrecked his ship.

He looked around a bit, mostly to keep himself away from the fact that he was going to die.
He could see nothing but huge monster... Water... Some pieces of wood from his own ship...
and oh there was a boat over there to...

"A boat?!"

He got stunned with something ordinary people would call happiness.
He had not felt that for several years and got really surprised.

It was a chance on a million that another ship would show up and save him. But as we all know chances of a million works out 9 times out of 10.

He yelled from the sea: "HELLO? ANYONE ON THAT SHIP? HELP ME?..."

He went silent for a few seconds waiting for an answer from the ship, but got none.

”HELLO? I’M DROWNING HERE YOU BASTARDS!! GET ME OUT FROM THE WATER OR.... OR ELSE err...I’LL DROWN!!”

Red Un
Red Un heard the yell and walked up on deck while Vodok struggled with the oars.

"Mr. Elf, there seems to be somebody in need of our assistance."

"I know Mr. Half-dwarf. Get down and start rowing so that we can get to him."

Vehementi Dominus
The ship pulled up next to Shukirogen. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" asked Vehementi "If you need our help, calling us bastards isn't going to do much good, take it back and we might reconsider leaving you here to die."

Red Un
Red Un came up again.

"Vehementi, don't be such a sensitive bastard, bastard. We'll rescue this bastard even if he called us bastards."

He threw out his rope down to the struggling man while grinning happily.

"Get up from the water, bastard."

Vodok
The short dwarf was still trying to row the boat only causing it to go around in circles very slowly. The short dwarf who had heard the cries for help but didn’t bother about them was annoyed that everyone stopped rowing the boat. "ROW 'IS BOA' ELSE WERE STUCK 'ERE FOR EVER!" he yelled to the others.

Vehementi Dominus
"Remember, you owe us one" Vehementi said to the paladin under his breath, audible to only him and Vehementi "you can start by helping Vodok with the oars, else this boat's going nowhere."

Vehementi walked off and below deck where he sat down opposite Vodok and started with an oar.

Red Un
So did Red Un. The ship started moving, but still very slowly.

"C'mon 'vreyone, get down 'ere and row!" yelled Red Un.

Vodok
The short dwarf was at this point very angry with the water and was rowing like a maniac. After a minute of this he was so tired he had to lie down...

Red Un
Red Un rowed with all his strength, but the ship still moved slowly.

Meanwhile, Aiyare was looking through his spyglass. He could see nothing at the horizon.

"Curses! At this speed we'll never reach Senja, or Vega for that matter. Hmm..."

Suddenly, he saw a pillar of smoke rise in the distance. His elven ears picked up a faint, merry singing. He had sailed the seas the seas of Tibia enough times to know what this meant.

"I never thought I would say this, but it's great that a dwarf ship is coming this way..."

Shukirogen
“I’m sorry, I was too busy screaming and yelling and struggling for my life to be able to introduce myself.
I Am Shukirogen, a dark paladin and a mercenary by the sword and the bow.

Shukirogen stared at Aiyare when he said "I never thought I would say this, but it's great that a dwarf ship is coming this way..."

Shukirogen mumbled.
"Dwarfs? well that’s nice for a change, I have just been in elven lands... and well elfs can get really really boring when you have to hang out with them for 5 months... they didn’t even have beer...”

Suddenly Aiyares words struck him.
”Did you say boat?"

Shukirogens mouth went wide open and he stared at the great ship ahead.

"A big dwarven ship out on the seas, well that’s something you don’t see every day.”

Rhiannon Datwood
Rhia watched the stranger with intent... Then looked to the dwarven boat. "Red Un... aren’t there pirates in these waters?" Rhia asked him mentally. "I hear pirates favourite ships are dwarven..."

She looked at the stranger again. She wondered what he was doing to be in a place as cold as the ice islands.

Red Un
"Whaddya mean, a dwarf ship getting taken by pirates? 'Twould 'ave to be pretty 'ard pirates in that case."

Meanwhile, on the dwarf ship...

"Ahoi Cap'n Grundir!"

"Wot is it, lookout Berth?"

"'Tseems to be sum sorta elven ship. But those elven sails ain't seem to 'ave lasted in there rough seas."

"Ah, that'll mean we'll 'ave the pleasure of saving elves. I can't wait to see their faces. Oi, Master Engineer Torath!"

"Aye, cap'n?"

"Full steam ahead!"

"Righto."

Vehementi Dominus
"If you're unsure, it's foggy enough to be invisible, I could make myself invisible and leap across and check the ship?"

Vehementi leaped up to the crows nest and gazed out in the direction of the ship, he could make out a faint silhouette just below the horizon.

"Damnit."

he jumped back down

"It's too far away, even for my jump, we'll have to wait."

Vodok
"I could signal to 'em 'at were 'ere if yeh wanna." the short dwarf said as he made a great fire ball and held it in his hand. The short dwarf took up a beer and drained it in one single go making him slightly drunk since it was a big bottle.

Shukirogen
"Is there anything I might be able to help with help with? I could signal them with an arrow or something.”

Red Un
Aiyare listened hard.

"I don't think we will have to signal them. The singing has stopped and the sound of the engine has risen. I think they have seen us. Strange...if we couldn't see them from our lookout, neither should they see us."

Red Un grinned.

"Ah, but ya forget that us dwarves 'ave created spyglasses of great power and vision. Heck, a dwarven spyglass could see a gold coin twenty miles away in thick fog, so they've probably seen us long before we saw 'em."

Indeed, the dwarf ship was picking up speed and plowed trough the waves at a fantastic velocity for something this big...

SPLOOOSH!

An enormous tentacle broke the surface and grabbed the ship. Even Red Un could hear the panicked screams of the crew as the dwarven ship was pulled downwards. Soon it had disappeared completely.

"That damn sea demon...that damn sea demon..." muttered Red Un under his breath.

For some reason, the terrifying shadow didn't move towards the elven ship, instead it disappeared northwards, back to where it came from.

"Well, I guess 'tis back to rowing..."

Meanwhile.

"Master, the demon took the ship and has now left us to go back to its kin."

"Not THE ship, apprentice, but A ship. A dwarven one to be precise. Our enemy has escaped us once again."

"Master, we must return and inform the brotherhood."

"Indeed we must, tough even I cannot see what we can do now..."

Shukirogen
"Shouldn’t we help them? There might be somebody alive, or we could at least see if there is anything left of value, hrhr."

Red Un
"'Tain’t worth the try. Sea Demons always swallows their prey whole, and unless you want to go fight it, I suggest we get movin' in case it comes back..."

Shukirogen
“Fight it eh... think we got any chance?
It would be fun to give it a try, hrhr.”

Red Un
"Well, if by 'fun' you mean getting swallowed whole and then slowly and painfully dissolve for hundreds of years in that creatures slimy innards then sure, it would be very, very fun."

Red Un climbed back down to the oars.

"Me however, will instead start rowing."

Vodok
The short dwarf was sick of the sea so he clumsily walked over to the oars, only to fall over and bang his head on a table. Lucky I had my helmet the short dwarf thought and slowly got up and went to the oars.

Vehementi Dominus
Vehementi was rowing as the others were, when he put his hands on his temples and started screaming as if his head was in pain, then he fell down and became unconscious.

He awoke in a bed, in a place which seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it, all of his armour, blood bottles and his weapons were gone, so had the gem round his arm, the claws and the fangs.
He stood up to find he was two thirds his normal size and his muscles were not there, they were replaced by skinny bone like arms with a skin and a little bit of flesh, he left the room and went downstairs, all this seemed so familiar to him, then there was that boy... the one from the other incidences where he was unconscious, except this time he looked a bit younger, about 8 or 9, when he saw Vehementi, he ran "bet you can't catch meeeeeeee!"
Vehementi ran after him, he ran to the door, but when he got there, everything went white, but he could hear a constant humming sound.

"Where am I? What is this? Who's that boy? What keeps happening to me? I'm scared."

Red Un
Red Un rolled his eyes.

"Great, he passed out again. Let's hope he doesn't do that when we're fighting..."

After a long time of rowing, the ship finally arrived at the Senja harbour. The eternal snow of the north lay on the streets and the cold was biting. They docked and Aiyare talked to the rest of them.

"Alright, these repairs will take quite a while, so I suggest you get some rest and food. Tomorrow the ship will be ready to set sail again."

The sun was about to set in the distance, so Red Un made his way towards the local inn...

Vodok
The short dwarf looked down at the figure lying on the floor and study him a second. Then he continued with the oars.

Red Un
Red Un sat down in the inn and ordered a mug of ale.

"Now where'd Vodok get to? I thought he would head straight for the inn..."

Shukirogen
Shukirogen left the ship the ship and went to the inn where he sat down with Red Un and ordered a beer.

”Thanks for helping me out there Mr... Un?
Are you just exploring the seas, or are you out on some quest of some kind? Because.. well I’m sorry if I might sound a little prejudictive but your kind of people isn’t exactly people you are used to see at the seas, especially not in company with elfs.

Red Un
"Well, dwarves have started sailin' the seas recently, but sure, it's usually the elves that does those things. Most dwarves get seasick, but since I've got some human blood in me, I quite like the sea."

Red Un took a sip from his mug.

"As for me reason for bein' 'ere, it started a long, long time ago...I've travelled most of Tibia in search of a certain...treasure..."

Vodok
The short dwarf wasn’t getting anywhere with the oars since no one was helping him. He went up to the deck and yelled "C'mere 'n' 'elp me witha oars!" And the very second later he realised the snow lying on the ground. "Oh." And with those words the short dwarf went to the inn and got himself a beer and a lump of meat.

Shukirogen
“A treasure hunt you say?
what kind of treasure might that be?
I understand if you don’t wish to tell me since you barely know me.
But I owe you my life and I would like to repay that with helping you in any way I possible can.
Letting my bow and my sword guard you in your quest.”

Shukirogen started emptying his third mug of beer.

Red Un
"Hmm... I think I could use some people who are actually..."

Red Un looked over at Vodok.

"...useful. Very well, the treasure I'm lookin' for is the fabled Library of Legends. I must warn you, we'll probably meet some pretty dangerous people along the way."

Shukirogen
“Danger you say?”

Shukirogen grined.

”Love danger, I live for the excitement of danger, and believe me I’ve met some dangerous people in my Job....... And well killed them... I will be Happy to serve you Mr Un in your quest.”

Shukirogen emptied his fifth mug of beer.

”Did I mention that I have been in elven lands for a while and that they got no beer there? ”

Red Un
"Oh, poor man! Lemme order us the next round. 'Oy innskeeper! More ale! And how 'bout rooms fer us to rest in as well?"

Red Un hadn't noticed that ever since he had set out from Ab'Dendriel with the much-costing ship of Aiyare, he was very short on money. As soon as he didn't want any more beers, he would notice. But that wasn't yet...

Vodok
The short dwarf yelled for another beer and the door of the inn opened and a cold gust of wind swept into the inn. "BEER HERE!!" a voice yelled that sounded like the short dwarf had heard it before. The unknown figure walked inside the inn and sat down a table away from the short dwarf. "Not YOU!!" the short dwarf yelled in surprise and looked at his old enemy Vodivir as he looked at the short dwarf.

Rhiannon Datwood
Rhia stayed on the boat. She was tired, nor hungry... Something seemed to be on her mind.
"I hope she is alright..."

Red Un
"Great, Vodok is gettin' into trouble again..."

Red Un knew how he would resolve this without violence. He got up from his chair and walked over to Vodok and Vodivir.

"Hiho m'fellow dwarves. It seems that you have a dispute, so may I suggest that you solve it by a drinkin' contest? Beer's on me."

Shukirogen
“A dwarf beer drinking contest... well this will take time ” Shukirogen said while emptying another mug of beer.

Baphomey
Baphomey, a big beardy old Orc stepped out from the shadows and went towards the dwarfs.
”Me hear shomthing aboth beerr contesht?
Weell weell, Me ar rrready to bett yo 200 Goldin cons thet me can drunk morr beerr than anyjj of yo lil dwarf things.”

Rhiannon Datwood
Rhia finally caught up with Red Un as she walked off the ship. She saw the old orc who seemed friendly, which she thought was unusual. She would have to see how the dwarves react to the company of a orc.

"Red Un, Don't you have a dwarven ring in your pocket? I could have sworn I saw you playing with it on the ship." Rhia though to Red Un hoping he would take her hint... And hopefully his pockets did not have holes in them...

Shukirogen
Shukirogen stood for some seconds looking at Baphomey and then said.
”Baphomey, Nice to see you again. What brings you here, I haven’t seen you for ages!
How are you, you big clumsy Orc. Please Sit down and have a beer with me.”

Baphomey
Baphomey started at Shukirogen for a few seconds.
”Eerrgh uhmmm whoo..hmmm…”

His old orc brain wasn’t used to this much thinking at once. But suddenly a smile came upon his face.

”Hail Shakriogen! I ar just trravlorring the contrry as i alwajjs do.
I have berr width yo lata, first Contesht I mast do width theehse lil Dwarf things.”

Red Un
"Right, then let's see who 'as the strongest mind. Barkeeper! Three mugs of ale please!"

Three mugs of foaming ale were set down on the table. The barkeeper looked suspiciously at Red Un.

"I really hope you will pay for these..."

"Of course! What do you think, that I've got holes in me pockets or sumthin'?"

Baphomey
Baphomey quickly emptied his beer.
”Can haw morr nauw?”

Vodok
The short dwarf pretended to fall down on the floor and his hand swiftly fell to the backpack with his dwarven ring on and put it in his pocket. Just in case. The short dwarf took the beer and drained at once. Vodivir followed Vodok's lead. "You know yeh can'' defeat me in 'is." the short dwarf muttered to Vodivir under his breath. "Even if I dont win this, I have a future. You aint getting no where with muttering spells under your breath you know." Vodivir whispered back to Vodok. "Yeah? You lot call yerselfs far knights, the fearless 'Arf 'Uards, but we mages'll get ta tha top. We'll be... Erm... Dwarf Geomancers." the short dwarf muttered and took the beer from a watcher and drained it to.

Red Un
"Okay, that was round number one. Three more beers please!"

Three more beers were put down. Two dwarves and an orc, thought Red Un to himself. This will take a while...

Baphomey
Baphomey emptied his second beer.

”Garr, call thish beer? Yo shodd tast some rrreal orrcish beer somtime.”

Red Un
"And you should try some real dwarven beer some time" muttered Red Un himself.

Baphomey
“Dwarrrfen beerr is good, but Orrcish beer is gooder.” Baphomey said and smiled.

”Thish tashtes jusht like waatterr...Stopid umans dont Arr know hauw to make beerr.”

Red Un
"I never thought this would happen, but I agree with an orc. Humans can't make good beer. Now drink, you two frikkin' dwarves!"

Vodok
The two dwarfs took the two beers and drained them too. The short dwarf ran his fingers down the dwarven ring to make sure it was there.
Red Un
"Dammit Vodok, don't forget Vodivir! Barteneder! 'Nother beer please!"

Red Un, in his drunken state, didn't notice that the ground had started trembling, just a tiny bit...

Vodok
"The ones before us tried to kill them by bringing down a big tree on them, that didn’t work. So we'll bring down half of this forsaken island!" A robed figure muttered and started bringing down the island. Five other figures walked up the hill and started working with the first figure.

Meanwhile in the inn... "I’ve got 100 gold on that short dwarf!" one of the watchers yelled over the inn so everyone heard it. The short dwarf was very drunk and therefore slipped his finger on the ring. "You've got that bet! 100 gold on the orc!" another person yelled. Now I only pretend to stay pretty drunk. the short dwarf thought and swayed around on his chair.

Pheonix
Rhia laughed out loud. She knew Vodok was cheating... She watched intently.

Red Un
Meanwhile, Aiyare was working on the ship. Suddenly, he dropped a hammer into the water.

"Damn..."

He jumped down into the sea, prepared for a really cold welcoming. But, to his surprise, it was rather warm. As he dove, he could see the hammer being sucked into a huge pipe that was sticking out.

Well, I'm not going to lose my hammer, he thought to himself. Then he took out a magical artefact that he had been given a long time ago, which made it possible to breathe underwater for a long time. He put it over his mouth and swam into the pipe...

Red Un
The pipes led onwards, deep into the rock. Strangely, it didn't seem dark at all. Some sort of light was at the other end of the pipe...

Vodok
The drinking was still going on. Vodivir was close fainting after lots of beers and Vodok was still acting pretty drunk. Everyone was yelling their bets and stuff and for some reason a violent fistfight had broken out between two humans. The short dwarf took another beer, still with the ring on and drained it.

Vehementi Dominus
Vehementi was still on the ship out cold, he flinched a bit and came to after another one of those "dreams".

This time, he was lying in a bed in a tower, he got up, to see that boy standing next to him crying, he looked back at where he was lying and he was still there, even though he had moved across the room, it appeared as if the boy was crying over him, he looked at himself, he looked quite peaceful, he was still a child, no claws, fangs, gem just the way he was before he was bitten, but he was still, no movement... was he dead? He walked over to the boy but he didn't notice him, he walked over to the bed as if he was drawn there by some unseen force, lay down and shut his eyes.
When he opened them, he was in a wooden box, he could feel it as a box but it was nailed shut, he could feel that he had his claws this time so he used them to smash open the roof to find himself in what looked like a crypt, he walked over to the entrance but it was locked and he couldn't get through. He sat down to try and work this out, but drifted back off to sleep.

When he woke up again, he was still on the ship, lying where he fell unconscious, he rubbed his head, stood up and walked out into Senja.

Baphomey
“Me shtill say this berr is like waterr! Don’t got
Shamething strrronger?” Baphomey slurred. While trying to stand still.

”Ish it only me orrr ish thi grount Movvingk?”

Shukirogen
“Actually I think the ground is moving ... Mr Un, I Think we should investigate this.” Shukirogen said. And got up from his chair

”Might be something dangerous” Shukirogen grinned and said with a big smile on his face.

When they got outside they noticed that the whole island was trembling.

When Shukirogen saw the whole island trembling he pulled himself together put his head in a snow pile.
Pulled it out again and felt little bit more sober.

”By Zathroth the Island is really shaking, What sorcery can be the cause of this! Or do you think that Sea demon can be the cause of this?”

Vodok

"Master, they noticed were bringing down the island. What now? We were hoping they wouldn’t notice..." one of the robed men said in an urgent voice. "Keep on going! Keep on going!" one of the other robed men replied.

The short dwarf knew the free drinking was over and they had to get to the other side of the island since the part he was standing on was now trembling violently. He also knew that the power of the dwarven ring was running out. He too stuffed his head in a pile of snow and took off the ring. Unfortunately he pushed Vodivir into a snow pile to who also became slightly more sober. The short dwarf was still drunk so he tried to run but he just ran in a fairly wide semicircle. The short dwarf put on his ring and cast great haste. "RUN!!!" he yelled in pure panic.

Red Un
"Hmmh...I don't think any sea demon could do this..." mutter Red Un. Then he saw the bartender come running.

"Hey, you! You didn't pay for all that beer!"

"Lisn', there seems to be some trouble goin' on, could we talk about this later?"

"Hmph, very well..."

Meanwhile, Aiyare reached the end of the pipe and came up into a dry room. The walls were covered with vast amounts of pipes, and they all stretched deep down into a black hole far away. Some of them were also connected to a strange apparatus in the middle of the room. If Aiyare had been a dwarf, he had immediately recognised it as a boiler of tremendous size, and if he had known dwarven history, he had knew that this boiler had been constructed by Grumberath Mastersmith, a dwarven engineer who had been one of Senja's first colonists. Its purpose was to warm up the water around the island, as dwarves never had stood the coldness. However, Aiyare knew none of this. And if knew, he wouldn't have time to think about it, since two black-robed men suddenly emerged from the shadows.

"Who are you?" asked Aiyare.

"It does not matter, elf" said one of the men.

"We shall finally stop that half-dwarf, even if we take the whole island with us!" said the other and drew his sword. Aiyare did the same...

Vehementi Dominus
Vehementi clambered out of the pipe, after having followed Aiyare, to see Aiyare and two men in robes engrossed in combat, he ran over whilst drawing his NightBlade.

"Not a very fair fight... 2 against 1." He leaped up and swung at one of the robed men, but it was parried by the other, who was then attacked by Aiyare, but was again blocked.

"Nice to see you here vampire" said Aiyare as one of the blades was dodged and then countered by the NightBlade.

Red Un
"What the heck is goin' on 'ere?" wondered Red Un as he ran around in the city, looking for the cause of the shaking. Then he noticed that the rumbling was stronger near the little fountain in the middle of the city.

"Oh no...someone is gonna blow the boiler!"

Shukirogen
“Boiler?!
That have to be some big ass boiler if it’s what making this Island shake.”

The island started shaking more and more the whole time.

”Erh.. Should we get going then? I guess we got some bad guys to kill, Or we could just leave this island and pretend it was never here.”

Red Un
"Well, I ain't gonna leave a dwarven boiler to its fate..."

Red Un looked around, and suddenly walked over to a stone in street. It was an ordinary stone, just like the other ones. At least to human eyes. The half-dwarf lifted it and revealed a dark hole.

"Just as I thought. No dwarf would hide something underground without an inspection shaft..."

He started to climb down...

Vehementi Dominus
Vehementi dodged another attack and sliced down one of the cloaked men's chests, Aiyare leaped forward in time to deflect an attack to Vehementi from behind, Vehementi swung round and took a swing at the other cloaked man, but it was dodged.

"What's that?" Vehementi heard something from above and looked up, it sounded like someone climbing down a ladder.

In the distraction, the two men charged at Vehementi and Aiyare, however, Aiyare stuck the sword out and one of them ran straight into it and was impaled, Vehementi dodged the other one and severed the impaled man's head, the other one saw this and disappeared into the shadow whilst the dead one fell to the floor and turned into smoke which quickly settled as dust.

Vodok
The short dwarf was just running around like crazy on the trembling island but for some reason it wasn’t going fast at all, even if he was using great haste. The short dwarf looked behind him to see Vodivir hanging onto Vodoks armour. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the short dwarf yelled in anger and tried to push down Vodivir but he still stood firm. Vodivir ignored the short dwarf and just looked around as if the short dwarf wasn’t standing in front of him yelling at him and the island wasn’t trembling more and more every minute. Vodivir looked at a big hill and noticed something black against the white snow. "Whats that?" Vodivir mutterd for himself. He let go of Vodoks armour and started carefully walking against the black spot.

"Master. Somethig is coming this way." a robed figure said. "Let him come. When he's close enough we'll just blast him to pieces." another replied.

Red Un
Red Un climbed down the last few steps of the ladder and emerged into the huge room.

"Nice work, you two. Now, let's see 'ere..."

He walked over to the enormous boiler and looked at it calmly.

"Hrmmh...I guess I gotta..."

He turned some gears. Suddenly, a plate flew loose from somewhere deep in the pipe-network, and hot steam sprinkled out and made a hole in the wall at the other end. After a while, it calmed down.

"There...lessee now..."

Red Un climbed into the pipe network and was gone for some minutes. Finally, he returned, wet and sweaty with a grin on his face.

"Okay, I fixed it up. Now let's get outta 'ere."

Meanwhile...

"Master, the island..."

"...it has stopped shaking, yes. We can do nothing more here. Let us leave."

"But master, the dwarves..."

"Ignore the dwarves. They aren't important..."

One of the robed men raised his hands above his head, and suddenly there was a blinding blue light. When it had dissipated, the robed shapes were gone.