Chapter 32, in which the Adventurers find a new mean of transportation and are knocked around a lot

Narudin
Narudin felt pain course through his body as he hit the opposite wall. The runes flew from his hands, and white spots danced before his eyes. Ignoring the pain, he jumped back to his feet in time to witness the lightning bolt strike Jenna. He was momentarily blinded by the brilliant light.

When his sight returned he saw Red Un, sobbing over Jenna's fallen form. Narudin stepped closer, stood quietly for a minute and said a quick prayer to whatever god who might be listening. He put a comforting hand on the half-dwarfs shoulder and said:

"I'm sorry, Sir Redwick, but I'm going to have to take care of Your leg..."

Red Un didn't reply to this, and barely winced when Narudin gripped his leg and positioned the bones into their appropriate places. After that, he left an Ultimate Healing Rune for Red Un to use at his leisure and silently walked away; sometimes the only thing you can offer to a person is some peace to think things over...

With a nod to the others, Narudin left the room and decided to make himself useful for once, and proceeded to scout the area for any danger. He knew it was most probably pointless, but it always paid to be careful - gods guard those who guard themselves. Moving from shadow to shadow, Narudin contemplated this newest development.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity had just started making headway against the magical force and was slowly moving out of the room when suddenly the force holding her dropped and she shot forward, nearly landing on her face.

She looked up through both doors and saw Red Un sobbing over Jenna's burnt form. She gagged at the sight of the body but managed to keep herself from throwing up. Unsteadily she approached Red Un and squeezed his shoulder. "I'm sorry." was all she could manage to say. She left the room and headed to her own smaller room and lay awake, tossing and turning, unable to get the sight out of her head.

She got up and took a vial of a light green substance and added a couple of herbs to it. She stood still, staring down at the substance as she waited for the herbs to settle to the bottom. Just as they hit the bottom a single tear slipped down from her cheek and into the vial sending ripples back and forth. She stood there awhile longer and then drank the entire contents of the vial in a single gulp. Seconds later she was sleeping a dreamless sleep.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine was on the third level of the Inn laying on her bed unable to fall asleep as she twisted and turned before she went down to the second level to find Tranquillity for a small chat.

Going down the stairs she heard sobbing, similar to Red Un's voice. Immediately, she went into his room.

"What the heck happened here?!" Katherine asked, confused over what had happened.

"Jenna tried to assassinate Red Un..." Tranquillity replied, from behind her. "But she was struck by lightning.”

Turning back to Red Un and the now-dead Jenna, Katherine could still see Jenna's body still shivering slightly.

Katherine walked over to Red Un, taking out a small piece of cloth and offered him to wipe his tears off. The sight of Red Un losing his one true love was heart-felt by Katherine. Although she wasn't sure why or what controlled Jenna to kill Red Un, for this was one mystery that would remain buried forever with Jenna...

Katherine kneeled down and placed her palm over Jenna and moved it up and down. A faint purple aura slowly surrounded her.

"This will keep her body from any further harm, till next morning..." Katherine said gently to Red Un, who was still hugging Jenna's burnt and cold body close to him, unwilling to let go.

Returning to her room, faint sobbing noise could still be heard from Red Un's room which was just below Katherine's room. This has been one truly dramatic night. Katherine gently drew circles with her fingers before falling asleep again...

Dragon Hunter
The dark warrior was pleased with the outcome of this. The enemy had been taken care of before anything serious had happened. He gave the burnt body a cold look, then moved his eyes to Red Un. He saw the tears of Red, and shook his head. "A warrior should not cry, for it is a sign of emotions, and emotions can be exploited by the enemy." he thought, as he made his way downstairs. He was disappointed at himself for not noticing the woman was a spy. He had been caught off guard, and that was serious. Rarely had it happened that he didn't notice the threat before it was too late. For most of his life he had been fighting, and almost always there was a price on his head, so assassins was something he often encountered. Troubled by the fact that he didn't seem quite as sharp as before, he went out for another walk...

Tujex
Tujex stood in Red Un's doorway, still stuffing his face full of Ramen. "That's some sad stuff..." he thought to himself. Ikozura snickered inside. "You should have listened to my warnings. This may have all been prevented if you had just listened to me. She could be tied down somewhere rather than becoming a burning pile." Tujex raised an eyebrow, slurping up the last of his ramen and tossing the bowl to the side. "What warning?" he thought. "Never mind... let's get some sleep, I don't think Red Un wants any company right now." Ikozura said as Tujex began walking to his room.

Red Un
The innkeeper arrived to see what all the ruckus was about.

"Great Banor! Is she...dead?"

Red Un took the blue healing stone and used it on his legs. Then he stood up, his head bowed down.

"She is...she is..."

"Uhm... I'd appreciate if you take her outside. I don't think the other guest appreciates the smell of a burned body."

"Yes... she shall be buried... in the morning..."

"In the morning?! But..."

Red Un looked up. His face was marked by tears, but there was also a great anger in his eyes.

"Lay one hand on this woman, and I'll cut it of..."

The innkeeper backed out the room.

"Ah...yes. The customer's always right..."

He closed the door. Red Un went back to the bed and laid down.

"Another one...another innocent..."

He drifted off into troubled sleep.


Red Un
Red Un dreamed...

He was standing on a field of flowers. In front of him stood Jenna, dressed in shining white robes.

"Je... Jenna?"

"One thing I learned from the Brotherhood was the art of entering someone’s mind when you die. I saw in your thoughts that you are familiar with this?"

"Uh... yeah, the Master used to hang 'round in my head for a while. But he's cat-food now."

Jenna walked forward and put her hand on Red Uns cheek.

"Redwick, I am so very sorry. The Brotherhood corrupted me with their lies, said that you had abandoned me and that your quest would lead to your own painful death, and the deaths of others."

"Well, they got the last one right..."

"Yes... I can stay here, in your head, so that you can meet me in your dreams whenever you want."

Red Un shook his head sadly.

"No."

"No? Why not, you silly half-dwarf?"

"Well... I'm sure there's an afterlife for you waiting somewhere. Maybe it'll be in heaven, maybe in hell. But seeing you in my dreams would only make your death more painful to me."

"Then, Redwick, I shall leave you. I shall go without fear wherever it may be, for I know that you will join me there."

"Yeah. Wherever you are, is heaven to me."

And they smiled, and they held each other, and they kissed. Then Jenna turned around.

"Now, don't cry anymore, Redwick Undersoor."

And there was a shining light, and Jenna walked into it. And then she was gone.

And Red Un woke up. It was morning. Red Un got up on his feet, grinning merrily.

"Well, I guess it's time to bury this 'ol body before the innkeeper throws it into the river..."

He picked up the burned body and carried it down the stairs.

"Good mornin' everyone!"

Darkness Fall-ll
The night was not very great for everyone in the group. The assassination of Red Un and death of Jenna was demoralising, and all of them could not do much to prevent this from happening...

Having only a slight rest, Katherine got out from her bed and went down to the Inn to meet up with the rest.

As she got down to the second level, she saw Red Un carrying Jenna's burnt and lifeless body, moving downstairs. The strange thing was, Red Un seems rather calm compared to his outburst of emotions last night.

"Good...Good Morning Red Un!" Katherine called out to Red Un and tried to smile at Red Un, trying hard to fight back the tears in her eyes.

Red Un
Red Un grinned back.

"Good mornin'! What's that tear in your eye?"

He looked at the body he carried over his shoulder.

"Oh, this 'ol thing? Yea, I guess it smells pretty bad by now. I'll go down and bury it..."

He went down the stair, humming on an old dwarven tune.

Narudin
Narudin had spent the night mindlessly scouting the area, to have something to do more than of any fear from another attack. He caught some sleep before dawn, lying in a small niche next to the inn, close enough to wake up to the sound of Red Un's voice. The voice was somewhat of a relief to Narudin, as it was tinted with dwarf gruffness, a sign that the time for grieving was over. Grief was a warrior's worst enemy, as it could induce two of his most dangerous emotions - rage and hopeless depression. Fortunately, it seemed that Red Un was strong enough to overcome it.

He got up as Red Un descended from the stairs and solemnly looked at what was left of Jenna's mortal shell.

"Sir Redwick" Narudin said to Red Un, "we have known each other for almost no time at all, but please accept my sincere condolences on Jenna's death. I regret I couldn't stop her, but my means were insufficient."

Narudin glanced at the corpse which Red Un carried.

"The nature of the Brotherhood is deceit" he continued, "What they tell You is lies, what they offer You is worth nothing, what they take is everything. And You are left with fear, fear for Yourself and for Your loved ones. That is why I have decided to join Your party. The many tomes of knowledge are an interesting bonus, but a bonus they stay." Narudin grinned, "You are a thorn in the side of the Brotherhood, a bloody big thorn I might add, which I would be mightily pleased to help swivel around. They are an abomination, a twisted organization which must be brought down, and since most legal ways are closed due to the massive bribes offered to high-standing officials, I see the only way is to get at them is to join the fun and help You on this wild goose chase for the Library of Legends."

The fires in Narudin's eyes slowly died down as he calmed.

"On a more present note, I believe that the Black Star may try some "legal" actions of their own. Everything else failed, who knows what they may try? I would advise looking out for any official figures: City guards, Soldiers and so on. This may be of course only my paranoid nature, but I fear the Brotherhood is insolent enough to try such an attack."

Narudin looked at the sky for a moment and then hesitantly asked Red Un:

"Do You require assistance in... burying her?

Red Un
"Nah, I can dig a hole in the ground by meself. I'm half-dwarf, y'know..."

Red Un went to the back of the building, whistling on a cheerful tune he had learnt from a gravedigger once, and started digging. When he was finished, he took a sword that Jenna had carried and unceremoniously dumped the rest of the body into the hole. Then he filled it up and stuck the sword in the ground. He also put a note on it:

Here rests Jenna.
If you decide to take the sword,
remember that she's a former
Brotherhood of the Dark Star member,
and they don't like grave-violations
more than this half-dwarf.

Then he went to the front of the house again.

"Alright everyone, time to go... uh... somewhere!"

Meanwhile, the ghost of a certain girl came out of the grave, its soul finally ready to go wherever dead people go. It looked at the grave.

Redwick, you silly half-dwarf...

Then it went where dead people go...

Darkness Fall-ll
As Jenna's body was being lowered into the hole dug up by Red Un and slowly covered with mud and dirt, all Katherine could do was to hold back her tears...

Sniffing a few times, she went to the front of the grave and placed a stalk of Rose in remembrance of Jenna...

"Rest in peace Jenna, though we don't know each other very well. But I hope you find peace and serene on the other side of the world..."

Taking a bow, Katherine turned away and walked towards Red Un.

"So Red Un, what's for breakfast?"

Tranquillity
Tranquillity awoke from her deep slumber and grudgingly rose from bed. She shivered and quickly pulled a blanket around her body.

The sight of Jenna's mutilated body still haunted her a bit but she had gotten over the original shock.

She walked over to the window and looked out. Down below she saw Red Un burying what appeared to be Jenna's body. He looked surprisingly unaffected by her death. In fact, it appeared as if Katherine was sadder about the death than Red Un was.

"I'll never understand dwarves" she muttered to herself. "Not even half-dwarves."

She shrugged off the blanket and dressed herself then went out her door and downstairs to get some breakfast.

Red Un
"Well, I'd like some fried eggs and some good thinkin'..."

Red Un went inside the inn again and ordered a plate of various fried things. And a mug of beer, of course.

Meanwhile, some early fishers out in the sea saw something really big move through the water...

Narudin
Narudin stood silently above the grave for a while, and contemplated on the various questions which nobody cared about, yet which always seemed to find a way into his mind. How did the Brotherhood convert her to their cause? Were those powers, which she had used, her own innate abilities, or did the Brotherhood imbue them? Had she found peace in afterlife? Would he had become the same if he hadn't left the Dark Stars? Is a half-dwarfs psyche as powerful as their physical strength?

All these questions nagged poor Narudins mind, for he was cursed with a need to know things, and he cared, not a good trait for an assassin, even if he was semi-retired. Semi-retirement meant, of course, that he didn't accept contracts any more. No one said plain killing wasn't allowed.

His eyes rested on Red Un's note and his mood lifted a bit.

"Oh well" he thought, "better make the most of the experience. Memo: Never, ever raise any sharp object of metallic nature during a thunderstorm. Reason: Health hazard."

Having put his mind to rest, he decided to join the others in the inn.

"I wonder what Red Un will come up with this time... Battling with demons - check, Finding the key - check, Killing the Master - check, Getting out of Dreamland - check, Confronting a long lost love who turns out to be an assassin - check, Narrowly escaping any damn traps the bloody Brotherhood had set - check, check, check. Ah, and so many things can still happen, "Narudin mused, "the least of them actually finding the Library of Legends."

Silently he glided into the tavern and materialised by the party, saying:

"So, Master Half-Dwarf, what is our aim from here?" He hushed his voice, "Are You still determined to get to Vega? So far it seems that all the elements want to stop You from arriving there. Or perhaps You have another destination in mind? Prey, tell us."

Darkness Fall-ll
"Wait... On top of what Red Un ordered. Give me some crackers as well as ham omelette, and a glass of fine wine to go along with it..." Katherine quickly said to the waiter, as she found a seat and sat down.

Katherine saw Narudin, or that might be his name, walking into the Inn and he seemed to be mumbling to himself.

Strange one... she thought, but quickly turned her attention to grooming Whisky.

Red Un
Red Un jumped and spilled his beer when Narudin suddenly appeared behind him.

"GAH! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

He ordered in another beer.

"Well, I guess we could find a ship somewhere 'round here, or perhaps we oughta look for that darn flyin' carpet..."

He drank some beer and sighed.

"Matter of fact, I dunno what I'll do next..."

Meanwhile, more and more fishing boats along the coast saw a strange thing move beneath the water. Some said it looked like some kind of fish, others that it was some kind of ship...

Tranquillity
"Morning." Tranquillity said as she stifled a yawn and sat down opposite Red Un. She motioned to the person in charge and ordered a large breakfast with some orange juice.

She cast a sympathetic glance a Red Un, "Are we going to stay here for a while Red Un? I'm sure what happened last night was probably pretty hard on you."

Red Un
"Nah, I'm sure she's somewhere good now, waitin' for me to croak it too. What really troubles me is how the heck we're gonna get past that storm."

Many years from now, old sailors would swear that they saw a huge fish heading for Greenshore, and that it was singing an old dwarven song with many voices...

Narudin
As the party was deciding what to do next, Narudin stepped back into the shadows and checked his inventory. Carefully, he relayed two new throwing stars in the hidden compartments in his sleeves. An assassin always looked for an extra edge - knives, throwing stars and other implements of a sharp and unpleasant nature were hidden all around his dull-looking, grey outfit, and even the dark cape he wore around his shoulders. Flashbangs, smokebombs and runes were distributed among his pouchbelt, which guaranteed quick access if such a need would arise.

Narudin was sharpening his double shortswords, when a figure detached himself from the darkness of a corner and headed toward him. Swiftly, he brought his swords up, but lowered them again when he realised it was one of his Greenshore contacts. After a short whispered conversation, a platinum coin changed hands and the shadowy figure left the inn. Narudin silently joined the party, appearing behind Red Un again, just for the fun of it.

"There seems to be some kind of disturbance nearing the Greenshore docks. If You excuse me, I shall investigate it."

With a short bow, he left the tavern and headed towards the docks, keeping to the shadows as he went.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity quickly began her breakfast while trying to think of ways to get through the storm. Or more to the point, how they would find somebody who would take them.

"I suppose as a last resort we could get a ship of our own some-place. There are some people who owe me some rather large favours at the Venore docks. We could go there and take one. If any of you have any sailing experience that is" she mused.

Tujex
Tujex awoke late that morning. He walked out of his room to find everyone had gathered and were now eating breakfast. "And I almost thought they had left me." he mumbled to himself as he stepped back into his room. He went through his pack, picking out a fresh pair of travelling clothes and slipping them on. He hummed an old song he remembered from his childhood as he folded his dirty clothes and buried them in the bottom of his pack. He closed his bag and slung it over his shoulder as he walked from the room. He walked to the table where everyone was eating, and ordered a large plate of bacon. Some people at another table looked at him strangely and all he could do was smile at the and say, "Hey... I love bacon." His plate arrived shortly after, and began eating the bacon immediately. He looked over to Tranquillity who mentioned something about sailing their own ship. "I've been on enough ships to know how to steer one pretty well..." he said with a mouthful of bacon.

Red Un
Red Un had just finished ordering in yet another beer as he had spilled his AGAIN when Narudin sneaked up on him.

"Hurm...well, I ain't got much knowledge in sailin', unless it's a steamship, of course."

Meanwhile, there was a big ruckus down at the harbour. Astern to the Tibianic now laid a second ship. But not any ordinary ship. It looked more like a big fish made out of metal. A hatch opened on it, and out stepped a very old dwarf.

"Wh's 'is 'ace?"

Another dwarf emerged.

"It seems like th'storm brought us far mo' south than we've been b'fore, cap'n."

Captain Numo muttered.

"I 'eed a 'eer..."

Narudin
Narudin arrived at the docks and witnessed a most strange scene. It seemed that a great, big metal fish, all covered in seaweeds, had emerged from the water. He crept closer and saw that some kind of creatures were crawling out through a hole in its belly. They looked like dwarves, very old dwarves at that. The strange ship and the dwarves struck him as very familiar... hadn't he read something about this? After a moments thought he remembered.

"Of course" thought Narudin. "Captain Numo and his underwater ship, The Naughty-less. Strange name, I've always thought so. Hmmm, I can't seem to remember why they actually have to sail underwater. Was it Durin who cursed them for tinkering with steam engines and magic to make the ship move underwater? Or did they just get very drunk and make some nasty remarks about the Emperors wife? One of those, probably."

He watched the dwarves some more, thinking of the reports he got earlier, after most of their... that is, the Brotherhood's forces were wiped out at Folda. Red Un and his party were said to have been seen entering such a vessel, as one of the shapeshifter spies, in the shape of a raven, had reported. Could he actually be on friendly terms with Numo? And he had thought it was only a legend. Captain Numo and his underwater ship, indeed...

Narudin returned to the inn and, swiftly making his way through the crowd inside, turned up in the midst of the party.

"I have some interesting information" he said. "A strange ship emerged from the sea in the docks. I have reasons to believe it is the legendary vessel of Captain Numo. This is possibly a great boon to our quest, is it not, Sir Redwick?"

With that, Narudin took a step back and settled himself into the gloom, deciding to see what Red Un's next decision would be.

Darkness Fall-ll
Upon hearing sailing, her eyes grew a little bigger. Her only experience on a sailing ship was when she was about only ten year old, when her mentor took her on a trip to an isolated island for training. That was the only time she had ever gone onto a ship or sailboat...

Finally, her orders arrived. "Here you go Miss, your Ham omelette and a fine ole of wine..."

"Thank you..." With that Katherine quickly dug in.

"Anyway... Are we really gonna go onto a ship???" Katherine asked curiously. As if she was already anticipating a YES.

Red Un
Captain Numo entered the Inn and went straight past the table where Red Un and his party was sitting, up to the bar.

"Immie 'a 'eer..."

The bartender looked down at the dwarf.

"What did you say?"

"Ah 'aid ah 'anned 'a 'eer."

"A what now?"

"A 'eer!"

"A sneer?"

"A 'EER!"

Red Un got up from his seat.

"I think he means a beer."

"Y', 'as 'ight. 'A 'eer."

The bartender served the venerable captain, who paid with a very very very old coin.

"Anks f'th 'elp, 'addie."

"No problem, Numo. You don't happen to remember me?"

Numo emptied the large mug in one stroke.

"Errrrrrm...'o."

A younger (compared to Numo, at least) dwarf entered.

"Oh, it's Red Un an' his band 'o book-questers, ain't it?"

"Yup. Are you goin' for the Ice Islands soon?"

"I guess so. That durn storm sent us this way, but we're gonna get back up there an' continue our cursed journey for thousands an' thousands of more years."

"Oh. Mind if we come along?"

"Not at all."

Narudin
Narudin let out a quiet chuckle as he witnessed Red Un take care of their transportation to the Ice Isles in record time. Dwarven blunt, to-the-point manner never ceased to amaze him. And to think he was taught that only through diplomacy and eloquence one could get things done.

"Shall we board the ship immediately... " started Narudin, looked at the drinking dwarves, and then continued, "...after You have supplied Yourselves with beer? To stay too long in one place may be hazardous with the Dark Star hot on our heels. They are probably already wondering what happened to their assassin, if they do not know that already."

Red Un
Far far away, in a secret place, the members of the brotherhood laughed evilly.

"Indeed we know. Indeed we know."

But Red Un and the gang knew nothing of this.

"Yeah, I guess we oughta get goin'. EVERYONE! Let's go to the ship!"

The dwarves finished their beers and went out with Red Un following them. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, but Red Un felt that something was wrong in some way.

"Uh...Narudin, do you feel like we're bein' watched?"

Narudin
"From the day I escaped the Dark Stars" answered Narudin darkly, looked around uneasily, and continued, "Now that You mention it, there seems to be some kind of... menacing presence in the air. I would not be surprised if they are watching us this very moment. They do have quite advanced scrying spells."

Narudin shuddered, and then shook his head.

"I hope it’s just my paranoid nature. They can't keep track of us all the time, I think. From what little knowledge I have gathered about divinations, they need tremendous power supplies to initiate, and even more so to maintain. Nothing short of a powerful demon, perhaps the stature of P'faard, could... give... such... power..."

Narudins voice trailed off. After a moment of hesitation, he went on:

"Of course, I am no expert on the subject, but the implications of such... monitoring are all too dangerous to easily dismiss. On a brighter note, I dare say putting a couple dozen meters of water between us and the surface would considerably complicate any attempts of scrying."

He didn't add that the Brotherhood probably knew there destination anyway - even he, Narudin, knew before joining, that Red Un and his party were heading towards the Ice Isles, to the presumed location of The Library. He didn't add that it wouldn't be much of a problem to wait until they re-surfaced and locate them. After a lengthy pause caused by not adding anything to the conversation, Narudin said:

"We can worry about it later, I vote that we sail out as soon as possible, and, insofar as that is possible, try to keep ahead of The Brotherhood."

He cast a quick look around him, feeling less secure with this new possibility endangering their quest.

"Maybe it would be wise to start looking for some counter-measure against divinations" Narudin thought, "In the meantime..."

Narudin took another look around, and then showed to the sky in general a certain humorous gesture taught to him by a dwarf he had met. Having thus satisfied his self-confidence, he caught up with the rest of the group.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine never knew that the Brotherhood were such a powerhouse that just the mentioning of its name will strike fear in anyone's mind.

Ever since the group has gained more knowledge about the Brotherhood, Katherine's awareness has been heightened... She too, could sense that the group was being watched, but by who and where she couldn't locate the exact place. Now, she couldn't be bothered by that. Her only wish was to find the Library which perhaps could unlock the secret to the whereabouts of her parents...

Katherine hurried to catch up with the rest as they slowly boarded the ship and head towards Ice Isles.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity walked behind Red Un. She was faced with a difficult decision but she knew that she would have to get more information before she carried out any rash actions. She had time and many things might hang in the balance.

At the mention of them being watched by the Brotherhood she began to speed up her walk. She wanted to get out of their view as soon as possible, nobody likes being watched.

"So, what are you guys gonna do when you find the library?" she asked. "That is, is there anything in particular that you are trying to find out?"

Red Un
"Nah, I'm just lookin' for books in general. Maybe I could find out a thing or two about where magical artefacts and such rests, or a good recipe for beer, or an unwritten story by a not yet born author."

Numo and his crew climbed down through the hatch, into the steel belly of the Naughty-Less, and Red Un followed.

The inside of the ship was lit by torches on the metal walls. There were many creaking sounds and such everywhere, and an obvious smell of seaweed and salt water. Numo grinned.

"Ai't 'o 'ace 'ike 'ome..."

Narudin
"In my case, there are three reasons. For one thing, I seek knowledge, as Sir Redwick does. Secondly, I am looking for some kind of cure for my... mental ailment. Fortunately it hasn't been acting up lately, but The Brotherhoods curse never totally left me. And last," little fires gleamed in Narudins sapphire-blue eyes "but not least, is revenge. They shattered my life, made me do things for which I loathe myself to this day. Because of them I had to go into hiding, and they killed most of my true friends. To get a chance to strike back, that is what I want. It seems that there will be chances a plenty in this group."

As the rest of the party entered The Naughty-less Narudin noticed a flash of light with the corner of his eye. It came from one of the open doorways near the docks. As the party entered the ship, he decided to check it and cautiously approached the door. Before entering, he stopped, and then suddenly leapt head first into the darkened doorway. A wise choice that was.

As he jumped through, a club swished above his head, missing it by an inch. Narudin completed his flight, rolled into a crouch and threw a knife at the hidden assailant. At the same time, he shouted for help, or at least attempted to shout, as no sound escaped his mouth.

"Silence spell" thought Narudin and cursed himself for being so careless. He had more pressing problems, though, as more shadows detached themselves from the room’s gloomy interior and closed on him. He took two more down with a couple of poison-tipped throwing stars before unsheathing his twin shortswords. A slash from his right made him duck in time to receive a kick from the other side, which sent him sprawling to the floor.

The nearest attacker stepped towards Narudin's still form and was rewarded with a vicious stab at groin-height. Rolling to his feet, Narudin gashed the next enemy across the chest, whilst disembowelling another with his second sword. Instinctively he threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding another club swing at head height.

"They're trying to take me alive" he thought, which was not much of a comforting thought. The Brotherhood, as he guessed these attackers identity, took prisoners only in order to exercise upon them unknown practices, in which words like "pain" and "agony" had a dominant role.

Furiously he worked his swords, trying desperately to keep the various blades away from any significant body parts. Trapped in the far corner of the house, he had no way of getting to the door and he knew, that eventually he would be overwhelmed. Already he was bleeding from a few cuts, fortunately none of them were major. On impulse, Narudin decided to try one more thing.

"Maybe at least I can warn the others, surely they will notice the light" he thought. After parrying another swing aimed at his head, he dropped both swords and shot his hands into his pouches. They came out holding two Great Fireball Runes. "Take that" thought Narudin with a grin.

Just as the runes discharged, the whole area went black. The force of the explosion sent him flying against the wall. Losing his consciousness, Narudin thought "Bloody darkness spell..."


Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine was a little slow at following the others, thus she was at the back of the group. Since they would be on this ship for quite some time, Katherine thought to herself that she might as well do some exploration on this ship and familiarize with the surroundings.

The others had followed Numo into the interior of the ship, probably being shown to their rooms... As Katherine slowly walked to the back of the ship, she heard an explosion. Immediately, her hearing heightened. Slight shiftings of feet were picked up by her ears. Whisky, at the same time, morphed itself into a White Shield and mounted to her arm. Katherine wasted no time, quickly climbed out of the ship, drifted over to the source of the explosion and telepathed Red Un at the same time.

Red Un, Explosion in a house near the ship! Help needed! FAST!


Katherine caught sight of four shadowly warriors surrounding a man on the floor. Narudin! Realising that Narudin was in grave danger, Katherine quickly cast a protective force field on Narudin, just as one of the warriors was about to strike down. They were actually quite stunned when they realised that their attacks met resistance, they turned around to find Katherine standing just behind them.

"Hi guys! It appears that you're all having fun except me... Mind if I join in?" Katherine jokingly said, as she launched her shield spinning towards the warriors. Three of them just managed to duck the spinning shield but the last one didn't have time to react and was knocked out cold.

One of the warriors to the left of Katherine tried to cast a "bind" spell on Katherine but it was a failure. Katherine laughingly commented, "Weakling, you thought a weak spell like Bind could hold me down? Think again..." Katherine reached out her left hand, and the shield came spinning back, knocking the warrior unconscious before mounting back to her arm.

Where are the others?! I might not be able to hold out long enough if they called for back up... Katherine thought to herself, imagining the worst case.

Just in time, she blocked a strike from one of the remaining warriors that pinned her down on the floor.

Because Katherine was in a crouch position, this promoted an opening in her enemies' legs. Quickly, Katherine used her staff and struck the back of her opponents' legs, causing them to lose balance and fall back. Snatching this opening in her enemy, Katherine used the edge of her shield and slammed it into the abdomen of the warrior, knocking out every single bit of air out of his lungs and stomach. All this time, Katherine has forgotten about the last warrior. He struck a blow at Katherine, and luckily she managed to move aside, and the blade inflicting a cut to her left arm...

C`mon! Where are you guys!!! Katherine getting a little exhausted.

Narudin
Narudin slipped back into consciousness, in time to see - was the darkness dispelled? - one of the figures raising a wicked-looking sword in front of him. He watched it descend with resignation and was equally surprised when it bounced of a magical barrier raised above him. Then he saw Katherine run into the building and start bashing the Brotherhood members.

All of them focused on the newcomer. "Bad move" thought Narudin, "Never leave a helpless-seeming enemy alive." With considerable difficulty, he pushed himself into a sitting position and raised his hands before him.

"Exevo mort hur" he intoned, sending forth an energy wave, which disintegrated three attackers, falling short of Katherine by a few inches. Then he collapsed, exhausted.

Carefully, Narudin examined his wounds. The cuts would heal, and so would the burns, eventually. He noted with satisfaction, that there were quite a few scorched and groaning figures lying on the floor. Suddenly, he felt a weakness stealing over his muscles. "I should have known" He thought, "Poison."

He had no mana to cast an antidote spell, and it didn't matter anyway, he realised, as no normal antidote spell would have helped.

"Interesting" Narudin muttered. "The symptoms clearly point to the rare Cobras nobilitas, found only in some remote locations west of Ankrahmun. Known antidotes... Either a mixture of crushed black and white Pearls with the essence of a red rose, or possibly, sufficiently strong antidote magic. Which I do not possess, of course. And even cured, it leaves the body incapable of movement for a time..."

Satisfying his professional sense with this diagnosis, Narudin lost consciousness again, sliding into an uneasy sleep.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity looked around her suddenly and saw that both Katherine and Nurudin were missing. Something seemed wrong to her.

She slowly gazed around her again, looking for a sign of where they might be. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a sudden movement that looked like fighting.

Rushing over she saw Narudin passed out on the ground, surrounded by several bodies, and a slightly tired Katherine facing off against another attacker. Drawing a knife from her sleeve she flicked it out at the attacking man where it buried itself in the back of his neck.

She approached and withdrew the dagger, wiping it on his shirt. She looked at Katherine who appeared to be for the most part fine except for a gash on her arm. "You should take care of that before it gets infected." she said nodding towards the wound.

She then knelt down next to Narudin, felt his pulse, checked his head for injuries, and examined his wounds "He's alive. His wounds aren't serious and can be mended, preferably by someone other than me, however..." she paused to examine the wounds more carefully. "He appears to be poisoned." she paused again, this time apparently thinking. "I think I can most likely cure him but it would be best to head back to the others first. Can you help me carry him?" she looked up at Katherine expectantly.

Red Un
Red Un jumped out of the ship when he heard the explosion, and saw that there was fighting going on in a nearby house.

"Great Durin’s holy trousers, what's goin' on now?"

He arrived as the last of the attackers was slain by Tranquillity.

"Hrmph... Unconscious eh? I guess we'll have to take him along anyway."

He took Narudin and hung the assassin over his shoulder. Then he started walking back to the ship.

Meanwhile, there was some anger amongst the Brotherhood.

"Those fools! With the traitor unconscious, how are we going to monitor them? His eyes are closed! They deserved to die, not acting on our orders..."

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine was about to halt Tranquillity to leave one alive for interrogation, but too late, before she could say anything, the final warrior dropped dead on the deck.

"Thanks Tranquillity..." Katherine said, still panting heavily from the battle.

"Well, at least we still have one of these warriors who is currently unconscious, and ask him what were his motives of trying to kill Narudin..." Katherine continued as she pressed her right hand over her left arm with a piece of cloth from the dead warrior, to prevent more blood spilling out...

Katherine slowly walked back to the ship, as Red Un carried both Narudin and the warrior on his back

Red Un
Red Un returned to the ship with the unconscious Narudin.

"I guess I gotta find you a bed..."

He wandered down a corridor and found a door. On the door was a sign.

STORAGE
CURRENT CARGO: BREAD

"Ah goodie, you'll be fine in here."

Without reflecting any further he threw in the body in the room and shut the door. One of the dwarven crew passed him by.

"So, you're transportin' bread?" asked Red Un.

"Wull, ah guess we did when we left port some 'undreds 'o years before. But it's gotta be pretty mouldy by now..."

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine slowly went into the corridor of the deck, and was showed into one of the empty rooms by one of the crew. Slowly opening the door with her right arm, her left arm was still bleeding a little, but lesser now than a few moments ago...

Closing the door, Katherine laid her backpack and Serpent staff on the bed-desk just next to the room, and gently sat down on the mattress.

"Ah..." Katherine let out a sound, as she accidentally twisted her left arm slightly to the left. Now, left with only her right arm, she searched through the drawers of the cupboards and desk for some medications and cloth, keeping in mind not to move her left arm, but the search was of no avail. So, she went up to one of the crews for assistance...

Red Un
Red Un went down the corridor, whistling on a merry dwarven sailing-tune (he knew a lot of tunes). Finally, he found a room marked "PASSENGERS", so he entered. The room looked just like the rest of the ship, metal walls, no decorations and the smell of seaweed. In one corner stood a simple bed, and there was a small hatch through which one could look out at the sea. Red Un peered out, but saw nothing but water, seaweed and the occasional small fish.

Meanwhile, Numo was checking everything, getting ready to continue the cursed journey.

"A' th' 'ngines 'eady?"

"Engines are ready!"

"Navi'ato?"

"Navigator ready!"

"Th' 'eer?"

"All beer-barrels full!"

"Hum, 'ood. 'Ow..."

"Cap'n, what 'bout the passengers?"

"A've 'ey 'een 'inkin' th' 'eer?!"

"No, they ain't drunk th' beer, cap'n. Me just thinks that we should check so they're all aboard."

"Aye, go an' 'ee..."

Dwarves were dispatched to see that everyone were aboard.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity rushed about the ship searching for Red Un to discover where he had put Narudin. In her haste she accidentally bumped into a dwarf. She immediately apologized and then rushed off.

Suddenly she stopped and called back to the dwarf she had just bumped into. "Have you seen a half-dwarf wandering around here by any chance? About this high." she said holding up her hand to indicate his height.

The dwarf thought for a moment and then said something which Tranquillity later translated as "Yea, I saw him a while ago. Said something about bread."

"Errr... thanks." said Tranquillity and turned off to continue her search. Suddenly she stopped. "Wait... bread? He wouldn't have... No of course not." she said to herself as she rushed off to a room she had seen earlier marker 'bread'.



Tranquillity shook her head as she saw Narudin lying heaped on a pile of bread. "Well... It could have been worse." she said to herself as she lifted him up onto her shoulders and went to go find an empty room to put him in.

After getting lost several times she finally managed to find the room marked 'passengers' and laid Narudin down on a cot. "Well, I'm not quite sure what poison they used on you. Didn't have time to check before you got carried off onto the ship and now the traces are probably lost due to that bread. But you'll be fine. I've never encountered a poison which wasn't cured by this remedy. It's a special antidote that I discovered myself." she said speaking to the unconscious Narudin as she combined ingredients from the pouches around her waist. "I don't usually actually use it except in serious cases. It causes the drinker a bit of... discomfort. But I doubt you'll mind in the state your in." She held up the potion to catch the light. It was as clear as water but thicker, like molasses. She approached Narudin with it, opened his mouth and poured it in. She watched for a second or two and then turned away to get a cloth to clean his cuts.

"They probably have a doctor here. So how come I'm doing this myself" she said. "Well I suppose that at least it'll keep me busy for at least part of this trip." she took the cloth and rubbed it around in the bottle she had used for making Narudin's antidote and then began cleaning his wounds with it. After she was satisfied that the cuts would not get infected she turned to Bradril who was lying on a nearby cot, still unconscious.

"Well, I still can't figure out what’s wrong with you." she said standing over him. "Hopefully you'll wake up soon. It didn't take the rest of us so long. Weak constitution I guess" she said with a grin and reached down to feel his forehead. "Bit hot," she said and went to go get some fresh water and a clean cloth.

She returned with a small pail of water and placed it next to Bradril's bed. She looked around her and bit her lip and then reached beneath her shirt, drawing out a crystal blue amulet which hung around her neck. She dipped it into the water and then quickly pulled it out, dried it off and hung it back around her neck.

She picked up the cloth from where she had put it down and then soaked it in the now cool water, wrung it out, folded it up, and placed it lightly over his forehead. She looked down at him remembering an old friend and then, with a wry look on her face she turned and left the room to go look around the ship.


Braldril
Braldril opened his eyes and looked around the room. No signs of anyone in the room with him, but he had apparently been cared for. He sat up in the bed and scratched his head. He shook his head and long strands of hair shook around his face. Braldril was not wearing his armour or boots. I wonder where my equipment is... he thought to himself. He swung his legs out of the bed and stood up. He glanced around the room and noticed a dark figure on the other side of the room.

"Hmm, hope I didn't disturb anyone," he said quietly.

He walked over to a dresser and pulled a tunic and some pants on and walked out the door.

Red Un
The dwarves returned to the captain.

"Seems like 'vreyone's aboard."

"Righ', th'n 'ose th' 'atch an' 'ets 'et goin'..."

The main hatch was closed with a bang and screwed tight.

"HATCH CLOSED!"

"ENGINES READY!"

"FULL STEAM AHEAD!"

The whole ship shook slightly when the old engines started up, and soon there was noise that was only covered by the whole dwarven crew singing as they left the port.

"Hey ho, hey ho,
under the sea we go.
We'll see a fish
and make a wish.
Hey ho, hey ho!

Hey ho, hey ho,
beneath the waves we go.
It's hard to steer,
but we've got beer!
Hey ho, hey ho!

Hey ho, hey ho,
on a cursed journey we go,
for hundreds of years,
but we've got beer!
Hey ho, hey ho!"

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine walked along the tight corridor trying to find some medications to ease her wounds, after she cast a small healing spell on it. The trail of blood that ran along her arm has already dried up, leaving behind a deep brown-coloured "cast". The wound was still visible though now it has much more healed up, only a slight scar.

Walking through the corridor wasn't as easy task, as the dwarf crew were constantly moving back and forth getting ready for sail. Suddenly, there was a big movement of the whole ship, and a big, loud cranking sound, probably signalling that the ship leaving the dock. Katherine placed both her hands on each side of the metal wall, preventing herself from losing balance.

"Well, guess we're starting our voyage!" Katherine said to herself, as she made her way to the observation deck of the ship to have a view of the endless ocean.

Red Un
Red Un left his quarters and wandered down the corridors, singing along as he went.

"Hey ho, hey ho,
in a submarine we go.
Under the sea
but don't blame me.
Hey ho, hey ho!

Hey ho, hey ho,
I'm glad I don't have to row.
Tough I am strong
I wouldn't last for long.
Hey ho, hey ho!"

Tranquillity
The ship took off with a massive shudder and Tranquillity dropped to the deck for better balance. With one hand against the wall and one on the floor she waited for the shudders to subside before standing back up.

"With shudders like that I don't WANT to know what the likelihood of this tub springing a leak." she muttered to herself as she went off in search of a place to sit down. Preferably a bar, though she doubted dwarves were likely to have brought any wine aboard.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine slowly made her way to the front of the observation deck, remembering to keep her balance while the submarine began to submerge deeper and deeper into the deep blue ocean.

Feeling a little pressure in her ear, Katherine pinched her nose and "blew" a poof of air to release the pressure that was building up in her ears, which was causing her some displeasure.

Finally, Katherine managed to make her way to the Observation Deck, after looking at a sign that says "Observation Deck" and pointed toward in the direction to her left.

The view was like none other she has ever seen before. She seemed to have accidentally entered a different world or another dimension. There were panels filled with huge transparent windows that allowed her to see the scenery surrounding the submarine.

The ocean reflected a mixture deep blue and light blue colour from the refraction of the sunlight above the ocean surface, creating a mystical yet wonderful display of colours.

Species of fish never seen before swam by the windows, paying little attention to Katherine like she was not even there. Schools of fish here and there swam peacefully through the water. An occasional visit from the sharks injected a sparkle of excitement in the ocean life. Small fish swam in and out of colourful clusters of rocks, which had tentacles sticking out from it and move back and forth to the movements of the ocean.

Whisky, who was beside Katherine all these while commented, Master, what a wonderful and colourful world this is... We have never imagined the ocean life to be so colourful and lively. We've always assumed that the ocean is a dull and colourless place. Well, I think we were wrong all along...

Katherine gave a "mmm" sound and said "Countless stories has documented the ocean to be full of dreadful monsters and described it as "Hell" or "Forbidden". But it seems that we've been blinded by all those myths and folktales..."

Red Un
A dwarf was wiping the floors in the observation decks.

"Aye, 'tis a pretty view, but it get kinda borin' after some 'undreds o' years."

Meanwhile, Red Un had found a door that said CANTEEN and entered it. It was a large room with a long table in the centre and a door leading to the kitchen. It was pretty empty, just the odd off-duty dwarf here and there drinking beer and chatting about this and that. One of them noticed Red Un entering.

"Eh? You're an unfamiliar face. Are ye human or dwarf?"

Red Un shrugged.

"Bit 'o both, I'm half-dwarf."

Everyone in the room went silent and turned around to stare at the half-dwarf.

Braldril
Braldril was sitting among the ones who had asked about Red Un as he entered. Braldril was hidden from being noticed since he was sitting. He stood up and realized he was the tallest one in the room.

"Makes one feel a bit out of place," he said with a smile as he walked over to Red Un.

"So where might we be heading?"

Red Un
"Hopefully they can set us off on Vega or somewhere nearby..."

Red Un made his way trough the room to the counter.

"Gimmie a beer."

"I ain't servin' no half-breed, I ain't."

Red Un lifted up the dwarf and held him at eye level. Between clenched teeth he whispered "Lisn', I don't want any trouble, and I'm tryin' real hard not to be in a foul mood over my recent loss of a loved one. I think you wouldn't want me to take it all out on ya, would ya?"

The dwarf gulped.

"Uh...was that one beer?"

"Aye, and some bread, if you've got it."

"...Right."

Tranquillity
Tranquillity wandered into what she assumed was the bar and spotted Red Un near the counter next to a man who he had obviously been talking to. She smiled and walked over next to Red Un.

"Hi again Red Un, and... Bradril? You’re awake?" she exclaimed. "I mean of course you should have been by now but when? I only left you a minute ago. I guess that means you probably woke up in between then and now but..." she felt like she was talking in circles so she decided to just not talk. "How are you?" she asked a bit feebly. She had been caught completely off guard by his unexpected presence.

Then she turned to the dwarf at the counter, tried to order a drink, failed, tried to get a lemonade, failed, and ended up decided to simply order some water. All much to the surprise of the dwarf who probably hadn't served anything but beer or ale for a long time.

Darkness Fall-ll
Sooner than she thought, Katherine heard a groan coming from nowhere.

"Whisky old pal, did you hear a low groan?" Katherine questioned Whisky, to make sure that she wasn't imagining things after seeing the underwater life.

Master, I think it's our tummies. We haven't had lunch or anything yet. I think it's time we head down to the "Canteen"... Whisky gave an answer to Katherine's wonders.

Katherine blushingly looked at her tummy, and true as it was, hers and Whisky's tummies were groaning. So, she asked the dwarf cleaner, who was the only dwarf crew around in the Observation Area, where was the direction to the "Canteen".

"Aye, 'ou go straight through that passage then take a left and walk for another 'undred steps." The cleaner kindly showed Katherine the direction.

"Thank you!" Katherine gave a smile before heading off in the instructed direction.

Finally, Katherine reached a door which has the label "CANTEEN". As she swung the door open, she noticed Tranquillity, Red Un, and Bradril sitting at a corner of the huge room. She walked over to them and heard Tranquillity questioning Bradril.

Red Un
The dwarves were becoming more and more curious as all kinds of non-dwarves entered the canteen. Soon, Numo came in too.

"Ah, I 'ee 'ya've 'ound th' 'anteen."

Red Un gulped down some beer.

"Yep. 'Tis a nice ship you've got."

"Aye, 'tis..."

The captain ordered a beer for himself.

"So, 'y 're ya goin' t' Vega?"

"We're lookin' for the Library 'o Legends, where all the books of the past, present and..."

Dramatic pause.

"...the future are stored."

Numo drank from his beer.

"Oh? 'Ve 'een 'ere..."

Red Un dropped his mug. First, he sat still in shock. Then, his lips started to move.

"You...you...you've...you've been there?!"

Braldril
As Braldril sat chugging on a mug of dwarven beer, he looked up at Tranquillity.

"Well I’m doing a'right I guess. I have been better. Little sleepy..."

He stood up to stretch his legs and looked around the room. That’s a lot of dwarves... he thought to himself.

"Hey... Anyone want to show me where my equipment is?"

Narudin
Narudin opened his eyes. Small lights danced before his eyes, the after-affects of the poison, so he immediately closed them.

"Ok" he thought. "One thing at a time. I am alive. That is good. But weak as a kitten. That is bad. I am lying comfortably in a bed. That is good. But I am hungry like hell. That is bad. Someone has tended to my wounds. That is good. But I am smelling of mouldy and rotten bread. That is bad."

Ultimately, he decided it would be a good idea to stand and see where he was. He got as far as to standing and then collapsed as his knees gave away.

"Bloody, bloody poison" Narudin cursed under his breath. "But at least I am alive."

Making a mental note to thank whoever had tended to him (it's amazing how such things slip Your mind), Narudin pulled himself into a semi-bipedal position, associated rather with gorillas than human beings, but upright nonetheless. Checking around the room, he found most of his possessions neatly stored in a nearby cupboard. He never felt fully clothed without a full armoury of nasty, sharp and pointed implements of death-dealing concealed around his body, and equipped himself appropriately. A hidden observer might have been surprised at the way the numerous weapons quickly disappeared in the folds of his outfit, and even more so surprised when he could still move, as it was a little clumsily because of the poison, without a sound.

He opened the door leading out of his room and then picked a random corridor and followed it. He seemed to be in some kind of metal construction.

"Mayhap this is... The Naughty-less?" He mused.

His suspicions were confirmed when he noticed some dwarves coming from the other end of the corridor, who, to his surprise, suddenly wrinkled their noses and ran of at high speed. Puzzled, Narudin continued on until he found a door, above which a sign stated "CANTEEN". Quietly, he crept in, and saw the party assembled. Briefly Narudin entertained the thought of appearing behind Red Un again, but dispatched the thought as childish. Instead, he decided to lurk in the shadows for a while, seeing what happens next. Somehow it didn't cross Narudin's mind, that it is extremely difficult to stay concealed when You are emitting an odour of rotten bread.

Red Un
Red Un was too shocked to notice the foul smell of rotten bread. He just stared at Numo, who chewed on a piece of meat. Another dwarf joined in on the conversation.

"Aye, we've all been there. In fact, that's why we're on this damn cursed journey in the first place."

Red Un stuttered.

"But...but...but...I thought it was a curse o' Durin or somethin'..."

Numo laughed.

"Durin? Ehe ehe ehe..."

"No, Durin ain't got a thing t'do with it" continued the other dwarf.

"But how'd you...I mean..."

"Oh, you wanna hear the tale?"

The dwarf yelled out to the other people in the canteen.

"SHALL I TELL HIM THE TALE OF THE LIBRARY?"

The other dwarves laughed.

"YEAH!"

Braldril
Braldril had heard the door to the Canteen open but hadn't seen anyone enter. I must be going crazy.... he thought to himself.

"Well if no one is going to tell me the whereabouts of my equipment then I shall go find it myself.”

He stood up and walked to the door. As he exited he smelled a strange odour of rotten bread...

Narudin
Narudin listened as the dwarf crew of The Naughty-less declared they knew about the Library of Legends. Then he saw Braldril leaving and stepped in front of him from the shadows.

"Greetings, Sir Braldril. You have been unconscious when I joined Sir Redwick's party, so We haven't been formally introduced. I am Narudin, a former assassin of the Brotherhood of the Dark Star, currently Your ally and comrade in the search for the Library of Legends. A pleasure to have met You.”

Every capitol letter majestically clicked in to place, practically audible in his speech. Narudin made a sweeping bow, and then went to the side where a bucket full of water stood, probably used to clean the deck. He threw a few soap-like-effect producing herbs into it and then dumped the contents over his head, cleansing himself from the foul smell of mouldy bread. Then, dripping, he made his way to the rest of the group.

"Whom am I to thank for my life?" He said, "Clearly someone had managed to purge my blood of the poison, no small feat, I'm sure."

He looked expectantly at the group.

Red Un
"I think it was Tranquillity. Anyways..."

Red Un turned back to the dwarf.

"...tell us the story."

"Right...well, it was something like this:

Numo here had built the Naughty-Less and set out with us in his crew, not in secret or because of the wrath o' some god or anythin', just 'cause the ship was ready, and he was eager to test it. So we sailed beneath the waves in our smelly submarine 'till we got to the Ice Islands. There we found an underwater cave under the island Vega, so the captain ordered us t'go in there, 'cause he was mighty curious..."

Tranquillity
Tranquillity raised her glass towards Narudin and turned back towards Nemo to hear the rest of his story.

Narudin
As the cursed crew of The Naughty-less started telling their tale, Narudin turned to Tranquillity:

"Then I am forever in Your debt, Lady Tranquillity" he said, bowing lowly. "I hope I shall never have to return such a favour. Although that seems unlikely, seeing as we meet assassins around every corner."

Narudin settled down into a seat and ordered some wine. On the way it had somehow transformed into a mug of beer, which he politely set aside and asked for some hot water. This invited a strange look from the bartender, but he prepared the water nonetheless.

"Thank You very much" Narudin said, and then took out some herbs from one of his pouches and cast them into the hot water.

"There's nothing like a good cup of tee" He said, smiling contentedly. Sipping his tee, he listened to the unravelling story.

Darkness Fall-ll
Slowly, the whole room was filled with the overwhelming scent of the rotten bread, which was coming from Narudin's body.

Katherine looked at him, who has pulled out a chair and sat opposite her, and said, "Don't mind me being straightforward or blunt. But, don't you think you might wanna get a bath or something to get rid of that terrible scent? It's kinda unappetising..." Katherine gestured by pinching her nose and holding her breath, exaggerating the smell.

Red Un
"So, in we went trough the dark tunnel. Our lights revealed little of it, but ahead, we saw that it lead upwards to an underground lake. So we went upwards..."

Narudin
Narudin nodded to Katherine:

"I apologise for polluting the atmosphere earlier. Truth to tell, I wonder how I came from lying in a Greenshore house, dying of poison to lying in a small room smelling of rotten bread. I have already cleaned myself of the smell, but I can't do much about what is now in the air. Unless..."

He opened yet another pouch and pulled out of it a few leaves, which he immediately crumpled in his hands. A vanilla fragrance swept through the canteen, purging it from the foul odour of mouldy bread.

"There You go. Bloody good plant, if I may say so myself, shame that it only grows in the village of Shadowthorn near Venore. Maybe it's the Elves presence."

With a shrug Narudin returned to the story and his tea.

Red Un
When Narudin released the smell of cleanliness in the room, all the dwarves started coughing and swearing. The swearing became louder and angrier when Naurdin mentioned that it was an elven herb.

"Son of a..."

"I oughta..."

"You li'll..."

And so on. Red Un realised that he had to act quickly. He took of one of his boots.

The smell of a sock that had been unwashed for far longer than the whole adventure they'd been on filled the room. The dwarves sighed in relief.

Narudin
Narudin curiously observed the dwarves reaction as Red Un quickly brought the situation under control.

"Ah, intriguing" he said. "It seems dwarves still seem to bear a great grudge against the elven kind. Forgive me for being so backward, but I have met few dwarves, with me spending most of my time assass..."

The rest of Narudins sentence drowned in his own fit of coughing, after which he continued:

"…in the library, reading, of course. I think I shall take a memo."

Setting aside his tea, Narudin took out a small notebook, in which he scribbled something, then he put it back into one of his pouches and smiled brightly.

"Oh, do go on, please. Don't let me detain You further in Your story."

Red Un
The dwarf continued, obviously relieved.

"Well, we surfaced in th' underground lake an' just about every dwarf aboard went outside, 'cause we were mighty curious 'bout th'place. There was a large dark tunnel, so we lit a bunch o' torches an' marched in.

After some walkin' we came to another cave, and there stood a bunch 'o weird robed men who told us to go back, or we'd get killed. 'Course, nobody sez that to th'captain, so he drew his axe and charged at them. The rest o' us joined in, 'cause we hadn't been fighting in years, and then it had just been against some dumb gobbos.

Anyhow, th'robed men proved to be mighty skilled with their swords, but 'ol Numo got a good hit in on their leader. Th'other robes were at first quite shocked by this, but soon they stood in some circle an' chanted some weird 'ol song. The words went somethin' like..."

The dwarf pointed to an inscription in the wall of the bar. It said:

May you be cursed to live until the end of time
And may you be cursed to sail the seas just as long
And may you be cursed to never return to your homeland

"...yeah, somethin' like that. Then they disappeared and we felt a strange force that made us all walk back to th'ship. Once there we saw that all around it those very words had been placed in some weird way. Magic probably. Never liked magic.

So we went onboard an' the strange force made us move away trough th'underwater tunnel and far through th'sea. We sailed 'round a bit and finally resurfaced at Folda. But for some reason, we couldn't move very far away from the ship before it pulled us back. Good thing it reached th'bar before, 'cause we were mighty thirsty for some land-beer.

And since then we've sailed 'round lookin' for that darn place, which we learned just might've been th'library which ya seek. Too bad we ain't found it for some 'undreds 'o years..."

Narudin
Finishing his tea, Narudin put aside his cup.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong, we're looking for a place under the protection of the Brotherhood of the Dark Star, probably enchanted with powerful warding magic, and hidden so well, that Numo and his crew have been searching for it "'undreds 'o years" to no avail, despite being there once? One hell of a quest, if I may say so myself."

With an amused expression, Narudin asked for another cup of hot water, positioning himself in the shadows in such a way that the barkeeper was quite surprised when the orderer of the hot water was nowhere to be seen, and even more surprised when a arm came out, seeming to appear from the thin air, and took the cup with a "Thank You."

Braldril
Braldril walked along the halls of the ship, looking into rooms he probably shouldn't have been looking in. He opened a door and saw a backpack and some armour and weapons. Ahh, that must be mine... he thought as he walked into the room. He pulled on his greaves and his armour and then strapped his sword's scabbard to his belt. He tied his shield onto his backpack and slipped his arms into the straps of his pack. As he turned around to walk out the door, all the candles in the room went out, as if they were speaking and someone had silenced them. The door shut behind him. That's not good...

Tujex
Tujex walked through the halls, wishing that he could find someone, so he wouldn't have to venture alone. He turned and looked over his shoulder, and found himself bumping into someone, causing them to stumble forward and him to fall on his butt. He looked up to see his good friend Braldril standing over him. "Thanks the gods I've found you!" he shouted as he jumped to his feet.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine was fascinated by all the stories told by the old dwarf. Once, a legendary library she and Red Un and the rest thought to have been lost and hidden away from all civilization since... since the beginning of time, has been visited by this horde of dwarves that have been wandering the seas of Tibia.

Katherine wondered about what the old dwarf said. "You said that your crew have been searching for it for hundreds of years and only managed to stumbled upon it once... but the thing is, that place Numo and his crew stumbled upon might not be the place we're looking for... or is it?" Katherine's trail of thoughts drifted away again, as she picked up her glass of ale and took a small sip.

Red Un
Far away, the Brotherhood discussed.

"Those foolish dwarves are telling too much!"

"We must act now!"

"But how?"

The leader raised his hand, and there was silence.

"We shall try again what we have tried before. Prepare the spell..."

Meanwhile, Red Un had taken out the little book that had started the whole quest long ago.

"Hmm... let's see now... yeah, there WAS mentioning of an underwater entry o' some sort, but it says very little here... Just something about some big sea-creature... hmm..."

Meanwhile, a dwarf on the observation deck observed that the fishes were all swimming away from the ship.

"Tha'ss odd..."

Narudin
Narudin was quietly stirring his tea in the corner, when suddenly a strange feeling assailed him. Someone was channelling vast amounts of magical power into the region. It felt like... a summoning?

A bit unsteadily, he stood up and looked out the nearest observation window. He noted there were nearly no fish in sight, except a few, which were fleeing away from The Naughty-less.

More than a bit worried, Narudin peered into the gloom of the sea. In the distance, he observed a small dot at the very edge of his vision. As he watched it began to grow.

"Bloody Hellfire" Narudin said quietly, as the shape drew closer.

Braldril
Braldril looked down onto who he had knocked over, expecting it to be a dwarf for he did not see him coming. As he peered in the poorly lit hallway, he recognized Tujex.

"Well Master Tujex, in a bit of a hurry are we?" He said as he extended his hand to his companion.

Red Un
Red Un looked up from his book and went over to the observation window.

"What the...something's comin' at the ship!"

He looked closer.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no..."

Suddenly, the Naughty-Less shook, sending dwarves to the floor. Red Un just kept looking.

"It's that damn sea-demon again..."

Darkness Fall-ll
There seem to be some commotion going on at the observation deck. As quick as she could, Katherine wiped trails of wine that stained the sides of her lips and rushed over to the observation deck.

Katherine banged into the metal walls of the submarine as the underwater ship suddenly jerked, sending everything to the floor. She let out a loud cry, as her bones met steel.

Finally, she made it to the observation deck. A few dwarves stood there, together with Red Un and Narudin. Their visions seemed to be fixed on something in the far distance. Katherine walked up to them, unable to see what was out there in the far distance, she went closer and squeezed her eyes slightly, and used a little of her farsightedness to assist her.

"WHAT THE!!!!!" Katherine cried out.

".....Sea Demon..." was all she was able to heard from Red Un.

Katherine couldn't believe her ears when she heard "Sea Demon", she has read of these horrible monsters of the deep, deep oceans only in the books, legends, myths, stories passed down generations. But never had she ever seen one face-to-face. Now, she saw this legendary monster face-to-face and only to meet it before her coming death...

"WHA… What Sea demon... And I thought Sea Demons were only a legend..."

Narudin
"Oh, it exists alright. Aqauris Diabolica. Many a sailor met their demise at its hand... that is, jaw." Supplied Narudin helpfully. "It seems that The Brotherhood has bound some of them to do their bidding. Interestingly, I don't seem to recall any information about defeating it, although there was a small passage in De Creaturo Bestiarius I believe, it went something like this:

"Hathing found de party who hast escaped de gruesome Jaws of De See Deamon, I asqued them: Wat do Thou advise to do upon spotting such a Creature? , To which he responded: Thou would be well advised to bugger off as quickly as thou can."

"Not very optimistic, I suppose" said Narudin, dodging a mug sent hurling toward him by another crash. "I don't think we can fight it by any conventional means, I mean, being crushed by tons of water above You and having no air to breathe certainly cripples my combat abilities. Unless someone has an amazing plan which he had been keeping secret to use for such an occasion, I would propose surfacing. Or can we fight it from here?" Narudin looked questioningly to Numo and Red Un, but not for long, because another crash swept him off his feet and onto his back.

"If You have any old dwarvish magic that works well against sea Demons, this is really a good time to use it" he muttered getting to his feet.

Red Un
"De Creaturo Bestiarius? Haven't read that one" said Red Un as he kept staring at the oncoming creature.

"I read 'bout it in the Necronomicon, where it was mentioned as an offspring to Cthulhu. And anything that has to do with Cthulhu is BIG trouble..."

Meanwhile, a large grin developed on Numos face.

"Methin's 's 'ime t'get aout th'annons..."

Red Un looked at Numo.

"Cannons? You've got cannons? I thought that theory didn't work?"

Another dwarf laughed.

"Aye, Numo's never been much 'bout theory. He just goes about doin' stuff. We'll get the cannons ready, cap'n."

"Goo'. An' 'ake 'ome 'aneuvars 'way from tha' th'ng..."

The Naughty-Less started to turn away from the slimy, bulbous and tentacle-faced sea demon...

Braldril
Braldril heard much commotion overhead as he helped Tujex off the floor. He ran up the wooden stairway at the end of the small hallway. As he emerged through the stairwell, he looked over the railing and saw the monstrous Sea Demon in the distance.

"Holy --"

Braldril refrained from cursing when he noticed that Tranquillity and Katherine were present. Gotta keep my composure in front of the ladies... he thought to himself as he was smiling. He ran to the rail as he reached into a pouch tied to his belt for a item he hoped he would not have to be using for awhile.

Red Un
The ship picked up speed, and the demon did likewise. It also kept sending sea-magic spells blasting towards the ship.

Dwarves ran everywhere, some carrying strange staffs, others with barrels of black powder. Red Un became curious and decided to follow them.

Meanwhile, Numo had gotten himself to the bridge, and was yelling through the pipe-system that made it possible to communicate with the different sections of the Naughty-Less.

"BRACE FER IMPACT!"

"LOA' TH' 'ANNONS!"

"GE' YE'H WEAPOH'S!"

"BRIN' 'E A 'EER!"

Narudin
"Necronomicon, eh? A professional tome on the subject, I'm sure, but I disliked its reverential tone on the demonic race. Man, or dwarf, or elf should not think themselves subservient to them, in my opinion."

Not knowing how to make himself useful, Narudin did what he did best, that is slink in the shadows.

"Oh, gods" he moaned, when Numo yelled "BRACE FER IMPACT!" He was going to be thrown to the floor again. He occupied himself by pondering how the cannons could possibly work underwater. It was always something to do so to forget there was a big, great, furious Sea Demon chasing You.


Red Un
Red Un followed the dwarves to a room that said "CANNONS" on the door.

"Hum...interesting..."

The dwarves opened small round hatches in the walls and put in long metal cylinders in them. Then they stuffed in the black powder. One yelled trough the pipe-system.

"CANNONS READY, CAP'N!"

Numos voice was heard back.

"FIRE!"

The dwarves lit the long staffs they had been carrying and put them in the hatches. Then they quickly closed them. The whole room shook with explosions from the hatches. The dwarf yelled in the pipe again.

"TORPEDOES AWAY, CAP'N!"

Darkness Fall-ll
"Whisky, I think you better not see this. It's not good for your eyes, or more of for your brain..." Katherine spoke as she raised her hand and covered it over Whisky's eyes.

But Whisky tried to move sideways and up to have glimpses of what was happening just in front of them.

As the cannons launched a couple of torpedoes towards the impending Sea Demon, it shook the whole submarine violently. Katherine managed to grab and hold on to a railing near her to keep herself from losing balance again.

"Careful... Careful guys, if there's a... a need I'll try to create a protective shield around us..." Katherine's stumbled with the violent movement of the submarine.

Looking out the glass windows, she saw the torpedoes speed away towards the Sea Demon. Katherine crossed her fingers, wishing that it would do damage to that hideous monster.

Red Un
Red Un was more interested in the cannons than the demon now.

"Oh, so it's gunpowder! And those things are...propellers?"

A dwarf slapped him on the hands as he fingered on a torpedo.

"Han's off! Those're special torpedoes!"

"Oh, in what way?"

Meanwhile, Numo looked on as the torpedoes made their way to the approaching monstrosity.

One missed by a few inches.

"DARN!"

Another hit dead on.

"YEAH!"

It tore a hole in the demon's belly, and foul green fluid started leaking out. But it kept coming, angrier than ever, and kept blasting the ship with it's mysterious magic.

Numo noticed a crack in the huge glass in front of him. He grabbed the communication-tube.

"REPOR' O' HULL INTE'GITY!"

"THE HULL HAS SEVERAL CRACKS, CAP'N!"

"FILL 'EM WHI' WHA'EVA Y'GOT! AN' PR'PARE TH' SPECIAL TORPEDOES!"

"AYE CAP'N!"

Back in the torpedo-room, the dwarf turned to Red Un.

"Well, you're about t'find out what's so special 'bout th' special torpedoes..."

Narudin
Narudin was standing next to Katherine when The Naughty-less lurched from the torpedoes dispatchment. She must have been mightily surprised when he flew past her and hit the opposite wall with a long boing!

Narudin, not being the heaviest of people and not gripping the railing hard enough, was propelled forward according to the well known laws of inertia. The wall brutally stopped his flight, and he lay for a moment, stars dancing before his eyes.

"Damn" he muttered, slowly, ever so slowly getting to his feet. "That seems to be happening more often to me these days. Quite a kick those "torpedoes" have."

He massaged his back, thinking he was too old for this. But then, with panic, remembered he was only half a century old, not that much for a half-elf. With an enormous effort of will, he derailed his train of thought, and said aloud:

"I'm too young for this." It didn't seem to have the same ring to it, but Narudin was pleased nonetheless with this small victory over his grumbling nature. Then he heard someone mentioning special torpedoes. He slid into a nearby room with a plaque saying "CANNONS", in time to hear a dwarf telling Red Un: "Well, you're about t'find out what's so special 'bout th' special torpedoes..."

"Please, tell me they are magnificent pieces of modern technology, designed to effortlessly leave the ship without even a slight tremble to indicate their departure from the hatches." Narudin looked at the dwarf and half-dwarf. "Am I right?" he asked with an air of resignation.

Red Un
The dwarf shook his head as he loaded in the torpedoes.

"Quite the contrary in fact, Mr. half-elf. We're gonna be shakin' pretty badly when these beauties shoots away. If we're not careful, we might blow up th'ship."

Red Un grinned.

"Ah, not so much magnificent pieces of modern technology as magnificent pieces of dwarven technology."

The ship shook from another blast of the sea-demon, and it's strange gibberings and roars could be heard. It was getting dangerously close.

Numo cursed.

"DAMMIT! We're too 'ose t'fire!"

He shouted down the communication-tube again, sending his message all over the ship.

"AHOI! 'F ANYONE'S GOT SUMTHIN' T'HOLD OFF TH'DEMON F'A WHILE, IT'D BE A GOOD TIME T'USE IT!"

Narudin
"Ah, well, I should have known. Dwarven technology, of course. Forget I ever asked, then."

A moment later Numo's voice roared through the pipe system into the room. Suffice to say it had a deafening quality to it.

"Well" said Narudin, wriggling a finger in his ringing ear. "Well, I don't have any powerful magic which would work underwater, but I have something here…" He fished out a small bottle from one of his pouches. "…which might buy us some time, although maybe someone has a better idea. It's a concentrated extract of ink from the Cephalopoda, Subclass Coleoidea Family."

He saw their expressions.

"Urm, What I mean, is that it is a mixture of inks from various squid species, guaranteed to obscure a total volume of 1000 cubic meters of water. Quite potent stuff, I should know, I made it myself. We could use the darkness to swim to the side, turn around and wait for the Sea Demon to emerge and then blast it…" He glanced at the dwarf standing next to Red Un. "…or ourselves into smithereens with Your magnificent pieces of dwarven technology. Does anyone have a better idea" Narudin asked, holding out his hand with the vial. "Because if someone has the ability to, exempli gratia, summon the great squid Hetzel to defeat the Demon, I, for one, shall gladly abandon my plan.”

Red Un
Red Un shrugged.

"I guess it could work. But how're we gonna get th’ ink out there?"

The dwarf scratched his head.

"I guess I could modify a torpedo to shoot it out, but it'll take some minutes..."

Numo yelled down to them.

"GET T'WORK ONNIT! WE'LL SEN' AOUT TH'DWARFONAUTS TH'OLD 'IM OFF!"

"Dwarfonauts?" said Red Un curiously.

In another room, dwarves began to put on large clunky metal suits and arm themselves with crossbows...

Marshall william golden
Hiding in the shadows behind stacked torpedoes, a young stow-away watched in fear as the dwarfonauts rushed past the door to another room labelled "Hatch".
Artemis built up his confidence and walked over to the one dwarf taller then the others. "Excuse me, sorry to sneak up on you like this but I was wondering if I could help in any way? I am able to shift through solid objects, maybe I could put the ink bottle into the tip of the torpedo?


Marshall william golden
Artemis took the bottle of ink and reached into the torpedo. ~gasp~ the inside of it was really warm and increasing in temperature.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine couldn't believe her eyes when the torpedoes' impact did almost nothing in stopping the impending Sea Demon, even though it has a wound in its abdomen and its green blood flowed out from it and colouring the water around it in murky green. It charged towards the submarine at an even greater speed.

"Dwarves and GUYS! I think you all better hurry up!!!! Whatever weapons, missiles, bolts, arrows or secret potions that can blast this monster to pieces and to the sky... USE IT!!!! We don't have much time LEFT!!!!" Katherine shouted out.

Katherine remembered one thing, there was one time she was training under water back at home and her mentor has taught her to use her mental powers under water. She quickly stood up and went to the glass, and stood just a few feet away from it. Katherine raised her hands till shoulder-level and focused her powers at the Sea Demon. "I hope this forcefield works..." Katherine closed her eyes as she said “Areti Bedemu!” An invisible force travelled through the water and collided with the Sea Demon. The Sea Demon seem to be surprised that it was blocked by something, it paused for a very brief moment but charged towards the submarine again and cast spells at it. The spell seemed to have taken effect on slowing the Demon down.

Katherine spread her legs a little wider to gain more balance, and cast another forcefield. A ripple travelled through the water and collided with the Demon yet again and briefly stopped it in its path. But Katherine didn't stop there, she kept casting multiple forcefields. Then she cast a forcewall. Because the wall was invisible, the Demon couldn't sense it and slammed hard into the wall, sending small waves of energy in all directions. The submarine shook a little as the energy reached the submarine.

"C`mon people! I CAN ONLY DO THIS MUCH IN SLOWING THE DEMON DOWN!!!!" Katherine shouted again, trying to hurry the people before the demon could reach the submarine and crush it like a piece of paper...

Red Un
The dwarfonauts went through the double-hatched room that lead outside. Once they got into the water, they started swimming towards the sea-demon, firing their crossbows at it. The bolts moved slowly through the water, but did manage to hit the demon, who turned from the ship (which it thought was too much trouble right now, with forcefields and such) and started to sweep with its hands trough the swarms of dwarves, crushing them against the floor of the sea.

Meanwhile, Red Un studied the newcomer as he helped preparing the torpedo.

"How'd you manage to get aboard? And what's your name?"

And meanwhile, Numo kept yelling orders.

"SEAL THE CRACKS!"

"GET 'WAY FROM IT!"

"FIRE THO' DAMN TORPEDOES!"

He looked up at the large viewing glass, which was started to make odd, crackling noises. Another dwarf looked at him worryingly.

"Cap'n, methinks we oughta get outta 'ere!"

Numo shook his head.

"No, I'll sta' 'ere, bu' ge' th'rest 'o ya outta 'ere..."

The other dwarves didn't say a word as they left the room, leaving Numo alone.

Narudin
Narudin nearly disembowelled the suddenly appearing stranger, while the hand not holding the bottle went to his sword, but relaxed, seeing he is not a threat. He was surprised though when he the stranger took the bottle from his hand and inserted it in the head of a torpedo his hand passing through the metal as if it was made of mist.

"Too many things are happening at once" Narudin said. "I would have just given it to one of these, er, dwarfonauts, to smash in the water and then pull him back with a rope. Now I don't think using it is necessary. Aren't those amazing torpedoes ready yet?"

With a resigned sigh Narudin went to slink in a dark corner. There was nothing much he could help, now. He'd leave it to all these super-power wielding types to sort out. After all, there's a limit to what a half-elf assassin-turned-to-a-sorcerer could take. Not even a good sorcerer, at that. Quite a good assassin, though. And alchemist. Hmm, he wasn't half-bad in medicine to tell the truth.

Thus trying to find some equilibrium in his life, Narudin took out a whetstone and one of his favourite throwing knives (a number Seven, not everyone's choice, but deadly in skilled hands) and started sharpening it.

"I wonder if there's any chance for a cup of tea?" He mused, looking around the chaotic interior of the room. "I suppose not..."

Marshall william golden
Stunned with his own rudeness he stepped back and bowed to his knee and said "I beg your forgiveness, my name is recorded as Artemis Silverstone, but my friends call me Ghost. I had been chasing my cat Diamond when she dashed into this ship then when I finally caught her, I tried to get out but the ship had begun to sink so I hid in the closest room I could find."

But before the dwarf could answer, a tremor went through the whole ship, then another for at least two minutes the ship was shifting this way and that. Meanwhile outside the Sea Demon was shooting balls of glowing water, wait there were people in those?! Luckily Katherine's shield was able to slow them down otherwise they would have shot right through the hull! Artemis was shook back down to the floor and fell on top of a dwarf who had entered the room. "Is anyone hurt?!"
The little dwarf was grumbling now " 'eh d' ya min' ettin' of o' me." "Oh sorry, I uh didn't mean to."
"Well o' corse y' din't 'een ter 'u it, i wantya ter et off o' me!!"

Red Un
The dwarf got up and got to the communication-tube.

"TORPEDO READY!"

"FIRE!" responded Numo.

The torpedo was fired at almost point blank range, exploding in a cloud of ink that covered the demon and made it even more confused.

"FULL SPEED!" yelled Numo. "GIVE US SOM' RANGE! AN' GET TH' SPECIAL TORPEDOES READY!"

The ship started to move away from the sea demon, who was now occupied with both the annoying dwarfonauts and the ink in its eyes.

Red Un looked out through the viewport.

"Hmm...we seem to be pretty close to the coast..."

Narudin
Narudin looked through the viewport with interest, seeing the torpedo capped with his special mixture smash against the Sea Demons torso, the ink immediately spreading over a large volume of water.

"That's a good piece of work, no doubt" he said happily, and then his face fell when he saw the cloud obscure the dwarfonauts.

"I beg Your pardon" he tapped one of the dwarves who were frantically (although with a measure of professional skill) tinkering with a marvellous piece of dwarven technology, "what will happen to those poor souls fighting out there?"

The dwarf gave him a brief glance, and replied "'ell, 'ey're probly gonna die if 'ey 'on't get 'ack b'for we send these beuaties" he patted the torpedo.

Narudin stood stunned for a moment, and then asked in a far-off voice, "Tell me... have You ever heard of Ethics?"

The dwarf paused to think. "Dunno" he said cautiously. "Never 'een there, and I've 'een to most 'orts on the coast. Maybee it's near 'azordoon?" he hazarded.

Taking a deep breath, Narudin said "No, I don't believe it is. I'm not sure You can put it on a map at all. If You could excuse me..."

Narudin left the dwarves to their work and sulkily hid in a corner. Blending with the shadows, he watched as the dwarven underwater vessel speed through the water.

"Hmm...we seem to be pretty close to the coast..." said Red Un. Narudin approached him silently and said.

"In these currents the ink will be diluted in a minute or so. I hope it's enough to prepare the special torpedoes." He laughed. "Special Kill-Us-Or-Kill-Them torpedoes. Dwarven technology can be full of surprises, can it not?" He said with a mirthless grin.

Marshall william golden
"Psst, Diamond where are you hiding you little pest?" A scraping of claws on metal and a small white kitten darted out from under a stack of torpedoes. 'Meow?' "No I'm not angry just frustrated. What would happen if these people saw your tag, we would be sent straight back to the palace that's what. Now here I'll take it off." After removing the incriminating tag, Artemis quickly stuffed it into his pocket. After all his fourteen years of life Artemis never thought he'd ever run away from home, let alone attempt it. " Diamond I just couldn't take it anymore, I mean every day I was followed by at least three guards, I couldn't even go hunting with my friends! Well now we're free Diamond, there's no way I'm going back now."

Artemis went over to where the half-dwarf was standing. "Hello. We never got to introduce ourselves, my name is Artemis Silverstone and this is my cat Diamond. May I ask what your name is, also your companions?" Artemis offered his hand to the half-dwarf.

Kai Sakamada
A young man stepped out of the nearby shadows with a somewhat dumb smirk on his face. A friendly one, but still somewhat dumb.

He stood roughly over six feet high, wearing a black leather vest, with a cross necklace, and dark blue jeans.

His hair was long and covered the back of his neck. It was dark brown, and he had brown eyes.

There was a gold plated hilt, sticking out of the sheath on his back, where his sword was kept.
He was roughly 19 years old.

"A submarine eh?"
He said, looking around, halfway talking to himself.

Some of the dwarves in the area gave his mixed glances as they worked. Obviously they hadn’t seen him when the machine was boarded.

"We had these back in my homeland." he said, looking at the many devices and the torpedoes. "Looks as if the stories of Dwarven technology where true." he said, turning to face the half dwarf, and extending his hand.

"And you must be the famous, Red Un, I’ve heard so much about. The name’s Kai Sakamada." he said extending his hand.

"How did YOU get in here youngster?" Red Un asked with an odd look.

Kai grinned some rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, it was like midnight, and I couldn’t find somewhere to stay, so I laid down in a supply shelter."

He got nothing but stupefied glances from this.

"WHAT?! I was on my way to the swamp lands, and needed somewhere to rest!"


Narudin
Narudin, looking extremely tired, gave Kai a looong stare.

"Oh" he said wearily. "Another one. If I may take care of all formalities, Sir Redwick?" He gave Red Un a small bow, and without waiting for an answer, turned to Kai.

"Listen carefully, Sir Kai, You have just stumbled onto an amazing opportunity to heroically die in the Quest in search of the Legendary Library of Legends, or the El-El-El, where all the books of the past, present…" Narudin made a half-hearted attempt of a dramatic pause, glancing at Red Un. "…and future are held.”

After a deep breath, he continued:

"Upon joining the Quest You accept that Sir Redwick Undersoor gets "the first pick" of any treasures or books we find, and understand, that he can't be held responsible for any injuries, deaths or any other "horrible fates that no sane creature should be able to imagine" of Your choosing. You are obliged to be friendly, brave and heroic, but if You aren't any of these, don't worry, what we really want is someone who can chop heads of like nobodies business and be able to follow simple orders in the lines of "Tally ho, be a good homicidal maniac and chop that chap's head off, there's a good boy.""

Narudin patted Kai Sakamada patronizingly on the shoulder and finished:

"Oh, I nearly forgot, we have a great big fierce Sea Demon chasing us, and in a minute or two we're going to try to blast it with great big fierce dwarven technology what-do-you-call-em? Ah, yes torpedoes. So congratulations and it's been nice knowing You. By the way, my name is Narudin, and I'm a half-elf assassin re-educated and turned to sorcerer, alchemist, Lore master and I'm not half bad at medicine."

Having used this days ration of cynicism, Narudin hid in the shadows, leaving the rest of the world to it's own biddings.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity grinned and stepped forward, hand extended towards Kai. "Ignore him." she said humorously. "Nobody has died yet. Not that I can remember at least… Well, anyway, welcome to our party!"

Red Un
The dwarves were mighty confused with people appearing all the time, but they had finally gotten the torpedoes ready and loaded.

"TORPEDOES READY!"

"FIRE!" yelled Numo.

The torpedoes shot out, sending flames through the water as they made their way towards the confused sea demon.

"Well, at least they didn't blow us up" said Red Un. "Let's see what they can do to that thing..."

Meanwhile, Numo realised what he had to do to save the ship.

"FULL SPEED AHEAD TOWARDS THE COAST!"

Narudin
From the darkened corner Narudin snorted. He was in a bad mood and he knew it. It didn't make him feel any better, though.

"Nobody has died? Nobody has died?" he muttered, "There must have been at least a hundred cultists this group has killed, thousands of orcs, trolls, wolves, minotaurs, cyclopses and a few dragons as well. Or maybe they all got a cold and You happened to be passing by when they fell dead? What? What? Well, Yes, none of our party members died, but quite a lot of people around us."

Oh dear, thought a small rational spot in Narudins mind. The madness spell was acting up again.

"Shouldn't have got worked up about those dwarfonauts" he muttered under his breath. "Damn Brotherhood curse..."

As the torpedoes were shot, Narudin stood up, his consciousness floating somewhere with lots of pink clouds. He started walking around the room, still hidden in the shadows, and looking behind various types of machinery.

"I bloody wonder where all these bloody guys are bloody coming from" he said, tapping a torpedo. He knocked harder and yelled "IS SOMEONE BLOODY IN THERE!?"

Marshall william golden
Artemis was startled when the man called Narudin started yelling at the torpedo. He had seen the sort at public meetings, ranting about the lack of dandelions in their yard or the like. But this one had seemed fine just a minute ago. Well I guess he is pretty stressed out at the moment... hey so I am. On top of that why would this Redwick allow a madman in his company?

"Uh Sir? I'm quite sure that there is no one in the torpedo, and if there was how may I ask could they breath?"

Artios
Artios, a 22 years old knight, was trying to make a campfire near the ocean using two rocks and some logs. "Curse it, why won’t these logs lit for once?!" he muttered. "Sigh, I guess I'll have to waste another Fire Field rune. I HATE to have to waste one of these each time I'm trying to make up a fire." He turned around and picked up a Fire Field rune from his backpack. He aimed the rune at the logs and concentrated. Svosch, and the campfire was lit. "Aaaah, now I can cook my meat." he said and picked up a bag from his backpack. He opened the bag and picked up two pieces of meat.

Marshall william golden
Artemis felt a fire field rune's energy being released nearby, and since they were under water it was obvious that there was someone with magic somewhere on the beach...

"I think there's someone on the beach, is there anyway to get a message to them to warn them of the sea demon?"

Artemis looked around the room hoping to find a way to warn the one on the beach of his danger. Maybe he could help out in some way or other.

Narudin
Narudin looked at Artemis with a confused expression for a moment, that shook his head, focused on him and said:

"Oh. I'm terribly sorry, I seemed to have had one of my little spells of madness. A remnant of a curse which the Brotherhood of the Dark Star laid on me long ago" he added in a tone of explanation for the newcomers. "That’s the organisation that’s trying to kill us, unsuccessfully, of course. Thank You for Your interfering, urm, Sir Artemis, wasn't it?"

In the meantime, Narudin took out a tin mug with an odd, wooden handle, from one of his pouches (he had practically everything in them), filled it with water from a bottle he fished from yet another pouch and murmured quietly: "Exori Flam", bringing his hand to the mug. Instead of releasing the energy in one go, he kept up a decent flame for a few seconds, until the water started boiling. Then he took some herbs from, yes, another pouch and tossed them into the water.

"The closest You can get to instant tea in these conditions, I suppose" Narudin sighed. Artemis proposed to warn some person who was on the beach they were heading for about the Sea Demon. "I wouldn't bother. The Demon is probably being blasted into smithereens right now. The bloody pieces will probably rain on the beach, though. From what I know about dwarven technology, we're going to get quite a kick, too."

He got over the last urges to point at dwarves and giggle (not a got survival tactic in a confined place with lots of dwarves), wishing the Library of Legends had some spell to cure his mental condition. "Discipline" he scolded himself.

Narudin walked to a viewport to see how the torpedoes had affected the Demon. It sure was going to be a blast, he thought.

Marshall william golden
Artemis handed the torpedo incident over to Narudin and took out a small bone device shaped like a 'Y', with well plied deer tendons leading off each of the two prongs to a small piece of soft leather... a gift from his father when he turned thirteen.

"Have you ever seen anything that looked like this before," he asked Narudin.

Before he could answer Artemis quickly blurted, "can-you-teach-me-to-use-a-sword? I mean I have a sword, but I don't know how to use it. All I can do is hunt with my sling-shot if the person is kind enough to stay far and still that is."

Narudin
Narudin turned his head from the view of the torpedoes speeding towards the still confused Sea Demon. He looked at the small bone device.

"One question at a time. I believe that is a sling, an often underestimated yet deadly weapon, in the right hands, of course. Very nice craftsmanship if I'm any judge. Of course it also could be a shiyu token from the dead religion of Shupaka, but I doubt it."

"As for swordsmanship, I don't think I would be a very good teacher. I am trained in the art of duel-wielding, not everyone’s choice, and I only use shortswords. If we survive this, I can show You a few tricks, if not in the use of the sword, then other useful skills. I would advise that You turn to Tranquillity, or maybe our new companion Sir Kai there can teach You. Now, though, let’s observe the interesting effects which occur when a Sea Demon meets two, special, and most important, dwarven torpedoes head on..."

Marshall william golden
Feeling let down about his sword problem and worried about the result the torpedoes may have on the surrounding life... mainly the sub's occupants, Artemis picked up Diamond and walked to the far wall and sat in his hiding spot behind the torpedoes.

Hoping no one could hear him he pulled the kitten on to his lap.
'Do ya think dad's found out I am not there anymore?,' whispered Artemis. 'The whole palace will probably in an uproar if he has.'

'Mrow?'

'Yeah I guess I can trust these people, at least I think I can. They don't seem to care about my sword being jewelled, but we'll soon see.'

Tranquillity
Tranquillity shrugged off Narudin's comment about the numerous opponents that they had killed. They had indeed amassed a large score but she had long ago realised that it wasn't worth counting, as long as you had a reason and never killed out of hand.

She turned around and looked out at the sea. From behind her she caught her name mentioned and turned around. She caught the gist of what Narudin was saying and approached the boy. "If you are interested in learning more about sword handling I would be happy to teach you. I've taught several aspiring warriors in Ab'Dendriel. May I see your blade?"

Marshall william golden
Artemis hesitated then handed over his sword. The sword was about one and a half feet long and the hilt was laced with gold and platinum wires. The blade glittered in a pattern of diamonds and rubies in the dim light.

Artemis was ashamed he had taken it. Well it would have been mine anyway, there's only two months till I'm fourteen.

As he handed the sword over to the woman referred to as Tranquillity, he cautioned "be careful not to touch the blade, it will burn more than a slap from a fire devil."

Red Un
Numo looked out through the crackling window as the Naughty-Less tried to get as much space as possible between itself and the demon.

"Sti' 'oo 'ose..."

One torpedo hit the demon, who lurched backwards slightly.

"FIRST ONE'S A DUD!" yelled the dwarf observer.

"Damn!" said Numo in the empty room to nobody in particular.

The next one, however, wasn't a dud.

There was a magnificent explosion, and the demon screamed with pain and anger as an enormous hole burst open in its stomach.

Meanwhile...

"We're losing control!"

"The half-dwarf has won again!"

"Curse them! Curse them all!"

And back in the ship...

"Hum...looks like the demon is goin' back to wherever it came from..." said Red Un.

"Wha...it ain't dead?!" said the dwarf observer.

"Nope. But actually makin' it go away is pretty damn impressive, all things considered."

"I guess s... wait! He's doin' somethin'!"

Indeed, the demon decided to let off one final magical blast at the submarine.

"We can't outrun it!"

The blast hit dead on, sending the ship racing out of control towards the coast...


Red Un
The whole interior of the ship was shaking and twisting as the ship was completely out of control.

Numo sat still in his chair, as finally, the huge glass broke in a million pieces, and water flowed in.

"Liv' f'ever? Durin ta' liv' f'ever!"

And that was the last of captain Numo.

There was quite some panic as other cracks broke up and started to sip in water. Red Un tried to seal of the ones in the torpedo room, and the other dwarves did likewise.

"Hold on everyone, it's gonna be a rough ending to this!"

Artios
As Artios was cooking his meat, he thought he heard something, it sounded like a large bang. Since he was sitting with his back to the ocean he turned around and looked out over the ocean. "Hmm there seems to be something coming towards the coast. I wonder what that might be, I've never seen anything like that before. Err, maybe I shouldn’t stand here?!"

Marshall william golden
Artemis was quick to grab Diamond and stuff her in to his coat.
"You ok little one?"

'Mow' replied the frightened kitten.

Artemis grabbed onto the nearest table leg which was nailed down for just as a likely event as now.

"THIS IS GUNNA HURT!!!!" Yelled the young runaway.

Kai Sakamada
Kai felt the strength of the blast, as it damaged the hull of the Naughty-Less. Shortly thereafter, he felt himself losing balance as the craft became unstable around him.
He was holding his balance well, and caught a glance of the beast just outside the window.

He gave a glance to Narudin, before almost falling over.

"I’m guessing when you asked if I could chop someone’s head off, you were referring to one of those!" he said, when he noticed the water leaking into the craft.

"Just my luck" he said under his breath, now making his way to the deck of the Naughty-Less.

"Wht're ye doi'n boy?!" yelled one of the dwarves.

Kai had tied the other end of the rope to a nearby steam pipe (or something) and was forcing the top hatch open.

"There’s to much pressure in this thing!" The top hatch was sealed shut, telling him that they may, or may not be still underwater.

He finally gave up on his first plan, and cut the rope from the pipe. The shaking of the ship eventually threw him off his feet, and he hit the ground hard. He sighed as he struggled back to his feet, his ears picking up that water was entering the craft.

"This is going to be a rough ride, gods save us if that thing’s still outside" he said under his breath, trying to secure his balance, and grabbing hold of the ladder which lead up to the hatch.


Marshall william golden
Artemis was thrown as the sub crashed towards the coast, wrenching his arm in the process. Just before he fell into unconsciousness he thought just my luck run away from home and get killed by a speeding sub crash.


Tranquillity
Tranquillity examined the blade feeling the grip on the hilt and the balance of the blade. After a few seconds of carefully examining the blade she looked up to examine its owner.

A knowing gleam came to her eye. She nodded towards Artemis and was about to hand his sword back to him when suddenly the ship started bucking back and forth. The blade scraped along the side of her arm and she gave a hiss of indrawn breath. It felt like fire was burning along her skin.

She realized that she would have to be a fool to keep the blade drawn with the boat shaking so violently so she quickly drew out a sword from its sheath and replaced the boys there for safe keeping. She slammed her own blade into the wall for a better grip.

"I'll return it later!" she shouted to Artemis.


Marshall william golden
Tranquillity was about to hand him his sword when what he had feared happened she recognized me!

"NOOO!!!!" Tranquillity had just been cut by his sword. Her skin was not merely burning in pain, but had actually melted like a hot knife through fat.
"SHE NEEDS HELP FAST!" Artemis yelled just before being knocked unconscious.

Narudin
Narudin nearly fell over when the ship suddenly lurched, but regained his balance quite quickly, even as they sped towards the beach. Assassins don't fall over easily, unless they want to.

But he had spit nearly half his tea and that irritated him a bit. He heard Artemis scream and yell that a "she" needs help. Turning, he saw Tranquillity sheathing a richly decorated sword, and Artemis being knocked unconscious. He saw Kai trying to keep his balance. He saw dwarves stopping leaks.

"Ah. Great. One thing at a time."

Narudin swiftly made his way to Tranquillity and glanced if there was anything wrong with her. There was a line on her arm, but the wound was closed, as if something super-heated was put to it.

"Amazing" he said looking at the sword in her scabbard and associating it with the scream, "You cut Your enemies and then cauterise their wound. How very chivalrous."

The wound didn't need treating, fortunately. Kai was managing. He caught hold of Artemis so he didn't drown in the water, which was now knee deep. Something gurgled near him.

Narudin reached down and pulled a cat from the water by the scruff.

"And what are You doing here" he asked pointlessly. "Ah, bloody hellfire. Sorry about this" Narudin said, stuffing the cat into one of his larger pouches as carefully as he could.

Looking around, he saw nothing else that could be done, at least by him. Well, he did some good, which didn't change the fact that they were speeding in an underwater ship towards land, so, de facto, they were in a death trap.

Keeping Artemis' head above the water, Narudin drank the rest of his tea and put the mug back into one of his pouches. Then he sighed (once again), and gripped a close-by railing really hard. He yelled:

"If I were some of You I'd brace myself for impact! The land’s approaching us quite fast! Or maybe it's the other way around!"

Kai Sakamada
"Damn, this isn’t good!" Kai said as his legs grew heavy from the water soaking into his clothes. He was about to go over, or more accurately, SWIM over, to see if Tranquillity was alright, however the floor just below him gave way.
He caught a deep breath when he felt the break, and was almost instantly sucked out by the pressure, now finding himself moving along side the craft, struggling to keep his breath held.

Luckily the rope he had tied to his leg was still there, and he caught hold of something, so he did not get simply left out in the ocean.

He held his eyes as closed as possible, the salt water having already put a powerful stinging sensation in them.

"Just my luck." he thought to himself, as he felt the ropes knot coming loose from his leg.

By this point, he didn’t even remember WHY he had put that rope on in the first place. Somehow, he would have ended up the same way, so he was not all to upset.
He tried to force himself to bend forward and grab the rope to pull himself back inside, however the pressure of the water, and the velocity of the ship made him almost unable to move.
He now found himself stuck to the side of the boat, hanging on by a small rope, and the ship flying towards land. He couldn’t hold his eyes shut for much longer, and opened them, eventually growing used to the pain of it.
His body was different from a Tibians, so it didn’t really affect his vision.
He could see into one of the portholes, where the captain’s body was floating around the room.
He didn’t like the thought of this happening to him, and he realized he was running out of breath.

"I think I’d have stood a better chance against that sea demon" he thought glumly, as the ship seemed to continue on forever.

Marshall william golden
Artemis wasn't feeling too good. He tried to move his arm but it was paralyzed with pain. He opened his eyes, and quickly shut them. The light was unbearable. His head felt like he had been sat on by a cyclops... well, just as bad.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine wasn't much disturbed by the addition of new members at all to the group, but with the Sea Demon gone more pressing matters were ahead of them. The submarine was sinking! The magical blast from the Sea Demon has almost snapped the submarine into half. Gallons of seawater started to gash into the submarine, greedily filling up any space available in the submarine.

The blast has caused cracks to appear all over the submarine. The chilling water sent a cooling and chilling sensation up her spine. With the water, temperature was starting to drop, as the sea water began to take away the warmth from the submarine and from the bodies of the people.

"I hope we can survive the crash..." Katherine tried to balance herself and grab onto anything that's close to her, as she started to shiver a little due to her losing body heat to the water.

Red Un
There was chaos everywhere, but Red Un managed to get one last look through the porthole.

"Oh dear, there's a big rock..."

CRASH!

The Naughty-Less crashed into the enormous undersea rock, which didn't budge. The ship flipped over and splashed out of the water, barely missing Artios and finally land in a huge mess of sounds, water and general chaos.

After a while, Red Un decided to stop being unconscious. As he opened his eyes, he felt that his left arm was broken.

"Ow..."

He got on his feet and looked around. He was standing on what used to be a wall, but had now decided to try out being floor for a change. The other wall, which was now enjoying a career as roof, had a huge rift in it, through which the settling sun shined in. Red Un took out his rope with his right arm and threw it up trough the rift. Then he climbed outside.

He immediately saw the man who was sitting next to a fire.

"Ahoi! There's... uh... there's a perfectly good explanation for all this..."