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As a young man out at sea the idea of slavery had never touched my mind, all I knew was there was work that needed to be done and those of us who did it. Captain Silverback was the only father figure any of us remembered and it was not until years later we would even ponder our origins. We sailed on Charl's Sea, full of creatures unknown to any sailor I’ve yet to meet. The dangers we faced during my tenure aboard the black tempest dwarf any I've met as of this day. That ocean seemed to be in constant turmoil every swell above the bow every gust ripping at the masts. The only respite we were allowed was that of shore time on the most inhospitable lands a seaman ever set eyes on. Years of endless searching was made for nothing as years passed by without finding our prize.
Each anchor drop precluded our hopes and with each rising we pushed on as weary souls. The tempest reeked of insanity and just when a ship mate seemed on the verge of snapping a visit below decks with the captain refreshed each crewman’s fervor and desire. We had just dropped anchor off the blackest spire of rock I’d ever seen. No name this land had, none of the charts the captain owned had it plotted we were sailing off the captain’s orders alone. From the whispers in the galley I’d gathered we were sailing in unknown seas. Following a fowl the lookout spotted weeks ago. It was this information that had me on the verge that evening. The waters raged threatening to smash the tempest with every swell, the sails had been dropped as one mast was already sundered. A party was sent out to find a suitable replacement as the captain surveyed this baron spire from the aft deck through his spyglass. "Charl’s finger" he snapped as he collapsed his monocular. Knuckles, the first mate got a gleam in his eye I'd not seen before as if he anticipated what happened next.
I was summoned to the captain’s cabin where I was met with a feast the likes none of the crew had ever been invited too. Wine so rich it made your mouth feel no thirst and your spirits grew with ever belt, mutton so tender it seemed to melt as you chew. As I was ordered to take a seat it was almost as if something willed me forth before I even had a chance to think of sitting I found myself in my seat. I sensed some enchantment but the strength of it on my weary soul kept me from resisting. As we sat in the silence before a word was said I heard muffled orders being barked out topside, it was knuckles I could tell by the raspy familiar voice "prepare the boats for departure, The captain will be heading to shore soon." his voice was drowned out as the captain spoke "tell me boy, you ever have a pet?" I was taken back I'd no recollection of any sort of animal since I could remember. Before I could speak he cut in again "no matter eat up, drink I've got a special sort of mission for you but we won’t discuss it on an empty stomach." again I attacked the morsels before me.
It must have been the food, for as I ate my heart grew lighter and my body less weary as if chains were slipping from around me, my imagination or what I thought at the time to be my imagination began running wild with every bite and every sip I found myself in my own little world where I was a cabin boy aboard a merchant vessel and Imagined myself sneaking wine very much like the sample now in front of me. My eyelids grew heavy and my head began to sag when I heard a much more pleasant voice addressing me, I looked up to see I was in another place entirely, the merchant ship in my daydream... only now it seemed even more vivid and real and a fair lady stood over me whispering my name ushering me from my slumber.
"Drud up with you now your father awaits you." I thought a response but a tiny voice rang out cutting me off.” right mum I'm up, I'm up." I wanted to turn about and find the source of this voice but I couldn’t move my head, oh my view was changing but it was as if something else drove me. Leggings, boots, a soft oiled tunic each passed in my view and clothed me then a quick glance in the mirror... then I realized it was me, only younger and I wasn't in control it was like I was, remembering…. Up on deck a familiar looking elf had just come up the gangplank with a load that was draped over with cloth and he grinned at the sight of me. "There’s my lad, com'er then have a look will yah." The cloth was removed and I saw the most splendid parrot there, adorned with every color of the rainbow a gleaming beak a magnificent specimen as I’d ever seen. "I figured you deserved your own crew as you've been promoted to lookout of the Phenocryst, someone to keep you company on them lonely watches." I could feel myself welling up with joy. "What will you call her then boy?" A few moments passed as I looked over the bird before I said quietly to her "Dena will do just fine, if that be ok by you missy" "arwk Dena" the parrot reported back. Lady Dena Crackerly Talonsworth I announced proudly.
The memories blurred by from then on as they flooded in like water into a breach in the bulwarks… spending time aloft in the crow’s nest chatting endlessly with my feathered companion, the time I’d spent with my parents from port to port. Visiting friends and family in Ta'Shae, My father inking our crest upon my chest and telling me of the Lyeta'Coi and who our people had been before the black came. Wars with the Krolvin.. Nearly fifty years of memories washed by me in a blink of an eye...
Then a chill seemed to creep through me as the surroundings grew dark, "Drud the Keystone! Run boy, take it to the crows nest! The child felt his entire body quivering with fear. He obeyed scurrying up the rigging just as the grappling hooks made purchase over the port side. Tucked away in the makeshift barrel he quivered he could hear Dena's talons tapping away as she nervously paced upon the edge of the platform. His head and gaze tucked into his chest. His fear was interrupted by the runes of ink left imprisoned in his flesh. "Masters of the sea" he read in the lost tongue. His hand found the grip of his bow, his other slid up the length of his quiver and over the prickly glue soaked albatross feathers. The child lay clenched in a ball deep down inside while the proud Ashrim rose to his feet, squinting down to the deck. THWAAAP the arrow pierced the knee of a would be aggressor leaving him helpless on the deck.
Shot after shot his hunger was fed, the weakness fled from his person, he was death. Spinning he felt overwhelmed as he shrieked a warning, "STARBOARD!" he screamed over the din of battle drawing the attention of the new influx of aggressors. One lithe silhouette broke from the melee climbing the ropes fixated as if a constant bulls eye within the sights of his bow. The lightning flashed from the defense of the Stormlords smiting the attackers and illuminating his target. The eyes of a starved man and the mark upon the neck, the bleached white shattered skull... She saw him advancing up the rigging toward her son, toward the truth, the keystone. Coaxing the maelstrom above she gingerly placed bolts ahead of each advance, but something was wrong. As if the gods themselves were thwarting her, the elf adroitly proceeded. In horror she watched as he grasped the edge of the watch-nest and flung himself inside feet first, Dena's beak moved insolently in protest but she heard not one caw from her son's parrot.
A struggle was taking place over a chest the two figures swirling like a funnel cloud struggling. She turned her gaze downward toward the base of the mainmast and tickled the maelstrom with a short prayer to Niima "Save my son m'lady". Drud's fingers felt as though they were going to be ripped from his hands, the strength of the elf before him was unrivaled. It was as if a Kraken's grasp was upon the keystone as he fought to obey his fathers command. CUHHRAHHKKK his world fell into the temporal rift everything moving as though it were frozen yet fluid. Every second like a lifetime each one as vivid as sunspots flashing beneath closed eyes. In triplet he recalls the events. His attacker yanked an arrow from his quiver driving it into his eye, for a moment his hands went limp. Ripped from his grasp the keystone and his attacker turned away, in one last effort his hands sprung to life making purchase among the folds of fabric enveloping the fiend. The tearing sent him off balance and falling backward, just as the shadowy figure leaped from his bunker he realized the ocean was now the sky and the maelstrom churned below him he was upended. The cold waters of Charl's realm swallowed him whole and he struggled to free himself from the rigging.
The temporal rift collapsed as his lungs alerted Drud to the life which was slipping away like sands through an hourglass, he panicked. His vision grew faint and the shadows crept in like those dancing about a dying flame. An eternity passed then blinding luminescent light was born and a piercing pain shot through my head. Something I was more familiar with next met my mind, air, glorious air I gasped and took it in as though I'd not breathed in centuries my lungs burned with salt my eyes felt as though they’d burst when I finally could see I saw black skies all round. I thought I must have slipped from the rigging and floated back up what luck. But I was soon let down again as I saw no vessel in sight to rescue me. In a panic an intense feeling of lost imbued my being. I'd nothing to grab onto and it was all I could do to stay afloat when suddenly as if I were being sucked in I found my world spinning and after a falling sensation I was sitting in a cramped damp haul of some ship. Gaining focus I sat staring at a bundle of fabric clenched to my chest. Reaching up I unfolded it and studied the onyx rose against the creamy green background.... Blacked out and rescued I'd thought. My mind couldn't comprehend what had actually happened to me.
Then he stepped forward out of the shadows like a nightmare, the ugliest krolvin you'd ever seen, yellow teeth dripping with saliva and at his side was a sort of runt of a Krolvin but none more the looker. The larger one spoke, "welcome to Charl's sea runt". "Charl’s sea?" I piped. "Aye" the krolvin spoke up, "Lorminstra's got no dominion over those lost at sea, them souls belong to Charl and him alone and when your lost to the depths you are doomed to sail them or swim them for all eternity" the smaller one interrupted "Not if we find it though right ...." he was cut off before he could say any more.
...I wondered where I was and who'd I'd fell into and this is the way old Garty Tahkree the whaler out of solhaven who was lost up near augmenta bay told it to me....
The island was no more than a days walk from end to end yet on it wandered hundreds of lost souls stranded to their own devices. Knuckles lurked about its shadows preying on the weaker inhabitants. This particular day there was a palatable excitement in the air as the others had hauled up two new arrivals, a large Krolvin and a elf wearing tattered grey clothing, bearing some insignia on his left breast. Something the elf had caught knuckles eyes almost immediately, a silver band with a glowing crystal affixed to it. He began making his plans immediately. Both the krolvin and the elf were unconscious and were whisked away to shelters where they were cared for, as night fell knuckles sprang into action.
He crept up to the shelter where the elf lay resting in peace. Slipping his hand in he loosed his prize from his mark, the elf stirred and grabbed at knuckles wrist with surprising strength. Knuckles struggled but felt he was going to be over powered. Then out of now where came a shadowy figure that wrapped a crude garrote around the elf’s neck, he grasped for the band trying to get it back around his finger, this was his end as his last breath hissed from him. Knuckles grabbed his prize and fled, once he felt he shook his pursuer he paused to wonder at his prize. It was a two inch wide silver band, affixed with a semispherical crystal glowing with shifting colors.
His pondering was cut short by a deep growling voice in the shadows, “Fool, you’ve no idea what you got there” Knuckles whined “I do its obviously something of power” the voice belted out with anger “aye, it is but one must be wise as to how it works, give it to me and I will show you.” With that the large Krolvin stepped forth from hiding. Knuckles was hesitant but knew he had no choice after seeing the elf overpowered so easily. The Krolvin’s eyes widened as he lay his hands on the band, “with this we will be free of this place. This is a compass of the Navigators, a guild responsible for traversing great distances by means of teleportation. I lured that fool elf into a trap and in the struggle he managed to bring us both to this place in spite of my preparations to prevent his escape, though it seems to have been his undoing.” Knuckles took a meek tone and a stature of a beaten dog, “How can we use it to escape, charl’s sea is thought to be inescapable.” A pained expression came across the Krolvin’s face, He did not reply instead he moved on as if there were no question posed, “What do you call yourself then?” with a toothy grin Knuckles half bowed and introduced himself. The krolvin gave him a nod and replied, “My name is captain Krozg Silverback, and if you stick with me Knuckles you will be in good shape when all said and done.”
So it was the pair set out and through experimenting with the navigators compass found some interesting powers that were associated with it, normally it would transport across Elanthia to any destination the user wished. But without extensive knowledge on how it worked Silverback was limited in how he could manipulate it. He did find that he could move within Charles Sea, but without knowing where to go he found himself up to his neck in high water on more than one botched attempt. Another interesting trinket the captain had at his disposal was a potion of which one drop could wreck the mind of the one who drank from it and leave it open to any sort of idea someone would like to place upon it.
With these tools the two set off to take hold of Charl’s Sea. The navigators ring gave its bearer the unique ability to sense lost souls within its realm, and summon them on command. A tool most likely used by the guild to acquire clientele. But the captain used it for the purpose of pulling new arrivals into his service, he first summoned them then by using a drop of his potion offered them refreshment and put them in his service. It was by these means he pulled the wreck of the Black tempest up and made her seaworthy with the help of his new minions. It was his plan to sail Charl’s Sea until he found the gate or passageway out so that he could use the artifact he’d acquired for even more profitable ends. Through his efforts he managed to pull one poor soul name Nacky Stormbrow of Rivers Rest, he was pulled aboard the tempest and told the captain he wasn't lost at sea at all but he’d come from a sea cave out Solhavens bay. This cave is the other end of where he had been trapped by the rising waters nut as he pushed up against the ceiling of the cave he found it gave way and through hours of effort managed to push his way through to a smaller tunnel which led him out onto a great spire of rock he dubbed Charl’s finger because of its shape. He had just arrived when the captain pulled him to the tempest.
It was then that the captain set out looking for this place where he knew he could get back if he found it. Years had passed and he not found what he was looking for until one evening after he’d taken a new soul aboard a beam of hope appeared on the horizon.
Captain! Captain! The lookout cried. I see something in the horizon.. A bird yes I believe it’s a bird” The crew began to murmur, in Charl’s sea there were no birds only nasty dark creatures which lived in the depths that fed on the souls which gave up on themselves. The captain was full of hope as the bird approached the vessel and it did so with a pace of urgency. When it reached the deck the thing looked exhausted, it flapped down gently and squawked as it landed. It was a large colorful parrot, much larger than your average parrot in fact. It stood on the deck surrounded by the crew seeming to survey its surroundings before it leaped back into the air and came to rest on the shoulder of a very surprised sea elf. The captain took notice and released the elf’s mind from his grip to learn more about why or where this parrot came from. He learned the parrot was the elf’s pet and somehow found its way to her master. He knew wherever the bird came from must be the place Nacky had called Charl’s finger so after reapplying his potion had the elf instruct the parrot to lead him back home. The beast did so tirelessly for weeks before they finally arrived at the spire they had long sought all these years. And it was time for the captain to make use of his elven friend once again.
I snapped out of my dream with the sound of the dinghy scraping rocks, looking up I saw Captain Silverback and First Mate Knuckles crouched over me. I moved to strike but found I was securely bound, knowing them for the shifty scoundrels they are, being of my own mind once more. The captain informed me of his plan and instructed me that we would all three be free of this curse soon enough if I just play nice. I went along with no other option left to me. We followed my Dena as she flitted from rock to rock leading us up the spire when at last we came to the entrance of a cave, peering inside I could see the chamber beyond seemed to be filled with a translucent multi-colored mist that seemed to sparkle like flecks of dust swirled in the mix. As we passed over the threshold there was a surprising clap of thunder which was followed by the agonizing shriek of anger from the captain, a throng of elves appeared from nowhere and they lunged at the captain with amazing strength and speed.
The most imposing of the group spoke in a very angry tone “Long you’ve been out of our reach Krolvin Slime, but now at last we have you. We’ve come for our compass and to avenge our guild mate whom you no doubt disposed of.” With that they ungloved the captain’s hand and removed a glowing band from his finger. “The elf trapped us it was his plan to undo us! On him Knuckles” the captain screamed.
Knuckles let loose his dagger and it met its mark sending a spike of pain through my body, I struggled against my bindings in vain, as I fell the finishing blow from his saber came down on my left leg severing it at the knee. A blow which left me stunned but also cut loose my bindings I grasped for anything but found nothing. As I searched the room I saw the navigators settling their score with the captain. Knuckles turned to help his master but seemed ineffective against the navigators. I turned my head from the carnage and saw a bright light coming from the far end of the chamber and made a move toward it the walls closed in around me as I hobbled down the passageway. I felt Dena’s wings flapping the air behind me.
I was pressed between the walls which grew tighter and tighter as I progressed I loosed everything my cloak, my tunic all left behind to progress just a little further. My one good leg seized up and I fell forward wedging myself in the floor of the tunnel I looked back to see knuckles beaten and bruised clutching my ankle. Then Dena swooped down and gouged at his face while I squirmed forward toward the light. The sunlight was blinding I hadn’t seen the sun in years, I scrambled out of the small tunnel and it collapsed behind me. I lay exhausted on the beach and slept for what could have been days. When I came to there was a cutter pulled up on shore, in bad repair but seaworthy. I waited for the rains to store up as much fresh water as I could.
Then I set sail to the north, I lost track of time out there seemed like I was on the open ocean for an eternity. When I came to my cutter was run aground and wrecked just across from the north docks of the Landing. I’m not too clear on what happened in between I was in a daze searching for fresh water and some food, When I finally found a few scraps and some drink I recovered to my senses and I found myself standing at the far end of a cool, shady alleyway. Where hint of a breeze, a pale light and the shouts of excited townsfolk and intrepid adventurers beckoned me towards the main thoroughfare.