Faris’s adventures on a ship, including learning a new skill that she’ll probably never need again. I mean, hopefully she won’t.
By the way, the 2022 Quest Calendar is available. Mine arrived this week.
Having arranged passage, I stocked up on some supplies for the trip. I watched as we sailed away from the city, enjoying the crew’s tradition of celebrating with a strong wine and some awkward dancing. It was supposed to be a three-day voyage around the island of Irulla. I joined in the work eagerly, and seemed to fit in well with the diverse crew. As a storm blew in, I helped fight off a harpy attack, then had a quick lesson on firing the canon, just in time for a pirate attack. I was thrilled when three of my four shots hit their targets. Then the pirates boarded and we were all engaged in hand-to-hand combat. I slayed three myself, though one managed to stab me.
I had no idea sailing could be so perilous. When we neared the Drighorn Islands, a siren’s call captured the crew’s attention. Captain Vaughn snapped me out of it, but many crew members were already jumping into the water. I raced to the cannons, shooting as many mermaids as possible before the crew could swim near them.
Once past those dangers, the captain allowed me to designate the order when searching the islands for Godwin’s vault. We stopped at Warmont Isle, where some monkeys stole a bit of gold, but returned it in exchange for some fruit. The Captain navigated through to Dayrain Reef, where I spent half a day climbing before finding the vault. As I neared the top, it became apparent that it was usually reached by magic. Luckily, I was able to find handholds easily for the climb.
The door to the vault presented a puzzle: a grid of letters with a clue overhead. I quickly deduced that the word started with “dr,” but tried “druid” before landing on the more obvious “dragons.” I quaffed a health potion as the door creaked open.
The door opened, revealing a magically enchanted circular room, with far more space than the door implied. I explored through a bedchamber, found some meal rations in the storage room, and set off a bird alarm in the garden – it squeaked “Intruder!” until I explained that Godwin had sent me. I found a health potion in his library, then discovered a locked chest in the last room. A quick search turned up a key, revealing more potions and some gold inside the chest.
My focus shifted to the Dragon Staff floating in a circle composed of light columns… magical, I assumed. I reached quickly between the columns to grab it, then fled as lightning flashed out from the circle, clearly trying to strike me.
After evading the lightning, I felt the entire cavern shake as a stone golem emerged from the wall. I hid behind a boulder, which improved my chances of hitting it without being hit… much. When it slumped back into a pile of rocks, I finally examined the Dragon Staff I was holding.
It was dark when I left the wizard’s vault, though not for long… the vault exploded, raining ash, rock, and lava down the mountain! I quaffed a Physical Elixir and ran down the mountain like my life depended on it, leaping over rivers of lava while covering my mouth to avoid inhaling volcanic fumes.