A series of events that Captain Dhask experienced from the 12th to 19th of Phoenatos in the year 5109!
Dhask gets ready to set sail, once again[]
This afternoon, rumors began spreading throughout the taverns and piers throughout Solhaven that the Blazing Barnacle was spotted close by at Sea, about a day or so out. Word quickly spread to Dhask that his long awaited ship was soon to arrive!
Sending Task the crow, Dhask quickly sent his bird to make sure the rumors were true. Hours later, the crow came back and confirmed the ship was less than a day from shore! Dhask, excited about the news, quickly gathered his belongings and headed down Solhaven, to spend the last night at the Krawling Kraken Inn, for adventure at sea awaits!
Dhask left a parchment message tacked to the statue in the park that reads:
- "People of Elanthia, we have had some good times and bad! However, tomorrow morning is the day I shall be leaving you landlubbers behind for awhile! I promise to return again, but the sea awaits! Take care, mates!
- The Captain"
Carefully planning so the Imperial Navy will not intercept his plans, Dhask plans to swim off shore and meet a skiff a mile from the mainland where he will be reunited with the Barnacle. The Imperial Navy cannot foil these plans, or it could be the end of Dhask's ship, as the Barnacle and crew recently escaped from a prison near Tamzyrr.
Dhask says farewell, or does he?[]
After stopping at various taverns throughout Solhaven, Dhask said farewell to some dock girls and barkeeps. After making sure his shop was well stocked while he gets ready for his voyage, Dhask made his way to the Crooked Way and snuck down the alleyway to the Wage and Dagger. Within, he met up with two men that were preparing the skiff for Dhask in the early hours. Dhask confirmed his arrangements and tossed both of them a coin pouch filled with silvers and made his way to the Krawling Kraken Inn.
Dhask rushed to the bar there, grabbing one more drink before getting a room, where he couldn't help but notice a cloaked figure sitting in the corner. Dhask looked at the barkeep and inquired, "Who's the gent over there?" The barkeep replied, "Not sure, he's been looking for someone though, said he wants to meet the Captain." Dhask, looking confused, swaggered over to the figure in the corner of the pub and asked, "You looking for me?" The cloaked man nodded and gesture for Dhask to have a seat.
Dhask pulled out a chair and straddled it, slamming his shot of whiskey on the table whiling eyeing the man. The man whispered, "So, you're Dhask... Interesting. Well, how do you plan on leaving freeport? No ship like yours can make it to a pier in miles of this place." Dhask flashed a sly grin and winked at the figure, "Don't you worry mate, my time on land has taken its toll, nothing is keeping me from getting my sea legs again!"
The cloaked man remained expressionless and murmured, "I see, well then, have a safe swim to the skiff." Dhask, looking annoyed, grabbed his whiskey and tipped his tricorne to the man, quickly turning to front desk and exiting the tavern. Dhask managed to get a room overlooking the harbor and quickly prepared for a nap, he didn't have much time till he needed to make his way to the skiff. "Wait a minute..." Dhask quietly said. "I never told him about the skiff!" A flood of panic came over Dhask as he quickly rushed from his room to the tavern. Scanning the crowd, the man was gone. Dhask ran out into the alleyway and made his way to the Wage and Dagger to find the two men who were. Dhask quickly asked the barkeep, "Where did those two guys that I spoke with early go? Did they get a room?" The barkeep replied, "Sorry, they left with a man, in a cloak as black as the night, looked like they took off west of here, towards the Mercantile's Guild." Dhask flung a few silvers towards the bartender and ran out the Wage and Dagger.
Dhask ran through the alleyway, heading towards the Guild, when he slipped. Falling into a pool of warm liquid. Blood. Dhask lifted his head from the ground to find himself staring one of the men in the face. He was barely clutching onto life, and he sat finger painting on the wall next to him in his own blood. Dhask looked over to the building that the man had been writing on which read, "The Captain shall only set sail to his end!" Dhask looked back at the man, but the life faded from his eyes. Dhask quickly made it back to his feet, where he noticed the other man was hanging from a building's sign, the man riddled with knives.
Dhask didn't know there was trouble, and he sure as hell didn't know someone was planning on stopping him from making his way back to sea. Dhask returned to the Kraken and gathered his thing, as he knew the Inn was no longer safe. He made his way to Marshtown, where he managed to find an abandoned home, and set up watch there, for who ever the cloaked man was, he was an enemy of the Captain's.
The cloaked man, or men[]
Dhask's paranoia set in pretty heavily while waiting out the night. He didn't know what to do. The two men that were to set up the arrangement with the skiff were gone and it was too late in the night to get someone else to make his plan work. Heavy beads of sweat ran down Dhask's brow as he sat lost in thought. Dhask began shouting, as if he was talking to someone, "No, we can't do that!" "Yes, I need to find a way!" "Why aren't you helping!" His voice got louder and louder, and the anger turned to rage as he started smashing things inside the home! As he lifted a chair and tossed it at the wall, Dhask fell back, and with the fall, he was left in the home, unconscious.
While Dhask was out cold, he dreamt of a woman. A woman that was enshrouded by silvery fog. Horses could be heard in the distance while the woman cackled at the crescent moon in the sky! "Dhask... Oh Dhask... Where have you been Dhask? Why don't you come to me more! Why don't you stay with me? Do you hear that? Do you hear it?!" The woman trailed off into laughter. Just as the laughter stopped, Dhask opened his eyes. He must have been out for a few hours, as the sun now was rising. Time to leave.
Dhask quickly got to his feet and made his way out the door, when there he was, the cloaked figure. Dhask stared down the cloaked man and shouted, "What do you want with me, fool?" The cloaked man remained motionless. Dhask started to make his way the other direction, but there the cloaked figure was again. There were two of them. Both motionless. Dhask shouted, "Who are you?" As he reached down to his sword belt, readying for himself for what might have to come. Both men began making their way towards Dhask, practically side-by-side now. They stopped just in front of him, while Dhask readied his cutlass and gauche! "You know us Dhask!" The two men said in unison. "You know us all too well!" The two cloaked men reached up and revealed their faces. J'yel and Vakim, both people from Dhask's past. Both dead. Dhask stumbled back, "No, this can't be, I saw you both die! Vakim you were killed in Krestle! And J'yel, you went down with the Pride! I saw it with my own two eyes!"
Dhask turned to run and made his way towards Glok's Pier. The two men remained at the home, every time Dhask looked back. Dhask ran and ran, until Glok's Pier was in sight. The water was in sight, just about a hundred feet to go. Closer. Closer! Dhask was almost there. As Dhask was taking long strides, he stumbled, and collapsed just feet from the pier. As he got back to his feet, there they were, already to the pier. This time, the men were no longer cloaked, but wearing the clothes they once did. Except Vakim was bleeding, badly. His abdomen had been ripped open and his insides dangled in front of him. His eyes were cold, like steel. And J'yel was dripping water, his face blue and his hands bloated. Eels and other sea life fell from his clothing as they two men stepped forward, slowly, towards Dhask.
"Don't you know Dhask, we've never left. We've always been with you. But why did you leave us behind? We're we not good enough for Caaaaaaaptain Dhask Zelideon?"
Dhask began to panic, as the two people he was most attached to as a child and adult have come back from the dead. Or was Dhask still asleep? Or we're the men even real? Dhask reached into his tweed coat and was shocked to find something odd inside. It was a bloodied knife. Dhask whispered, "But I haven't killed anyone..." Vakim grabbed at Dhask's arm and said, "Or have you?" J'yel stared at Dhask and hissed, "Those poor saps had no clue you were going to kill them." Vakim grabbed the knife from Dhask's hand, "And they didn't expect you to tell the constable that a pirate ship was on it's way. You really confused them, Dhask. I mean, if you look, the Imperial Navy has already found the Barnacle." Dhask's face went blank. "What a coward Captain who would let his own men go down with his ship." J'yel hissed. Was this Dhask's mind working against him? Or was this an act by the Lord of Lies? Dhask reached into his bag and pulled out his spyglass, aiming his view at the open sea.
Through the glass, Dhask saw it, the Imperial Navy had the Barnacle surrounded. It wouldn't be long, his men the ship was soon to find its way to its watery grave. Vakim waved his hand in front of Dhask's spyglass and tossed the bloodied knife into the water, "Still don't get it, do you Dhask. See the knife I just threw?" Dhask nodded. Vakim continued, "Then why is it still in your hand?" Dhask glanced down, and sure enough, the bloodied knife was still there." J'yel taunted, "We are you. We always been you. We were never real." Vakim cackled as J'yel pointed at Dhask and shouted, "But don't worry, you won't see us again!" Dhask, enraged, slashed at the two men, but when he waved the knife at them, it cut through nothing. The two spectres of Dhask's past vanished, into the morning air. A silvery giggle rang through the pier.
Dhask was lost in thought. He wasn't sure whether to believe the two men, or if it was the result of bad whiskey. But what was real was the fact that someone tipped off the local law enforcement and notified them of the Barnacle. Dhask quickly brought the spyglass back up to his eye. Beyond the lens, Dhask could only see the crow's nest, the rest of the ship was already submerged. And the Imperial Navy was already sailing back toward the harbor. It was over. Dhask's long awaited ship was gone. And all that was left was an empty feeling.
Picking up the pieces[]
Dhask sat at the pier, until the sun was high in the sky. His hopes and dreams vanished into the Western Sea, the sea in which Dhask called home. Did he really do it? Did he sell himself out and kill his men and destroy his ship? Dhask didn't believe it, and thought something larger was at play. Dhask removed a map from his haversack and traced the lines he had once drew on the vellum. His adventure had already come to an end. Dhask tore the vellum in pieces and sprinkled it into the water. Dhask got back to his feet and made his way into town.
Dhask arrived at the Bronze Boar, to see his favorite barkeep just opening the doors. "Hey Captain, thought you were bound for the sea?" Dhask shook his head and said, "Naw, looks like that's been put to a halt. The Imperial Dogs got the Barnacle, and she rests at the bottom of the Sea now." The barkeep looked shocked and replied, "Wow, sorry to hear that. Well, come on in, the whiskey from Bourth is on me today." Dhask stepped inside the boar and began to drink his sorrows away.
The Hour of Phoen came and went and then the Hour of Tonis was soon upon the day. Dhask still sat at the Boar, drinking the whiskey as if it were water. A shadow of a figure loomed over Dhask, it was the shadow of the Baronial Lieutenant. "So Dhask, lost your ship I hear!" The Baronial Lieutenant laughed! Dhask glanced over his shoulder at the man and gave him a sly wink, "Don't worry mate, it's only a matter of time before I'm back at sea." The Baronial Lieutenant looked at Dhask and said, "You were never a Captain anyways... Captains earn respect and you have nev..." Dhask didn't let him finish. Dhask's fist met the Baronial Lieutenant's face knocking him back to the doorway. The Baronial Lieutenant pulled on a whistle and within minutes, several men were in the Boar, tackling Dhask and shackling his legs and wrists. Baronial Lieutenant piped, "We got what we wanted boys, the pirate here can be read like a book."
Dhask was thrown into a cell, a cell Dhask has been in regularly. But this time, it didn't feel right. Something was still wrong. No guards wandered the hallway, no other prisoners were in the cells next to his. This prison was empty. Dhask sat on the cot within the cell, waiting... ...waiting for what was to come. A voice called out to Dhask, "Your work here isn't done, Dhask. The curse is not fully lifted. Your past isn't fully buried. A new begin is just around the corner." The voice disappeared from his mind and a silvery cackle rang through the cell walls.
Just then, heavy footsteps could be heard. The Baronial Lieutenant marched to Dhask's cell and unlocked the gate. "Looks like you're clean, Captain..." The Baronial Lieutenant mockingly stated. "No outstanding warrants, a pity." The man threw Dhask a box of his belongings. "Get out of my prison, and I swear, I see you looking at the wizened gnome wrong, and you're arse is mine!" Dhask winked as he placed his tricorne atop his head and said, "I've got work to do."
Dhask ran into the streets of Solhaven, a look of determination on his face. He ran off to the harbor and found one of the dockworkers he dealt with regularly. "Hey mate, any sign of a sunken ship drifting to shore? The Barnacle needs to be reborn." The dockworker looked at Dhask and claimed that some ship parts did float to shore. Dhask handed the dockworker a full coin purse and stated, "Have them here for me, I will be to collect them with some men in a few days." The dockworker opened the purse and his face lit up like gold. He looked at Dhask and nodded his head, "For this price, you got it, boss!"
Dhask was still lost about the events that led to today, but he had work to do still.
The Bloated Jewel[]
During the early hours on Leyan, the 19th, a dockworker spotted Dhask doing some business in North Market and quickly rushed his way to the Captain. "Dhask! DHASK!! You're not going to believe this. We got something! It's big!" Dhask dropped what he was doing and ran off with the dockworker towards the harbor.
Sitting on the shore, sat a ship's hull. It was the Barnacle, or what was left of it. Dhask looked over to the dockworker and said, "Where did you find it, surely a fisherman didn't catch this." The dockworker looked confused and excited, all at once, and stated, "I dunno, it was just... ...here. Like it washed up to shore on its own." Dhask ran to the hull and inspecting the remains of the ship. Not much was intact, but it could be used for what he wished. Dhask shouted, "Get me an army of men, we drag this tonight! To Conch Street and then to the Spiral Passageway!"
Hours had passed and Dhask, with several scores of men and women, was able to drag the remains of the ship to his desired location and begin some work on the hull. Hiring a few shipwrights, Dhask was able to fix up the hull. Using material from his old, boarded up hideout, the Barnacle was reborn. But it wasn't the Barnacle anymore... It was the Bloated Jewel.