From Captain to Cabin Boy

[Pig Boy]

From Captain to Cabin Boy

In the middle of Vhalar, it might've been considered terribly inconvenient, with the ongoing harvest of Autumn going on, that Liathen chose this moment to call in a favor with the settlement leader of Hopetoun, Darius Baer. Yet call on him she did, asking that it was urgent that she speak with him on her ship. There he would find her waiting on the large vessel, built for war and armored like a floating fortress, in Sorellian Steel fittings. It was a wonder with all that extra weight that it could remain afloat, but then the shipwrights of Old Scalvoris had secrets that were in some cases lost, and no doubt Liathen had opportunities to improve the condition of her vessel in the time she'd been gone.

When Darius arrived, as she expected him to, she'd hold her clawed hand over her heart for a second, bowing her head lightly at him. "Baron. I was hoping I might bend your ear to my request."

Thus waiting for his permission to continue with her proposal, she continued, "I think we both can recognize that Scalvoris needs all the defenders it can get. And while I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of joining the military, I'd like to contribute toward that defense in the best way I can. As a free roaming mariner, my warship and its canny crew at the vanguard of any further attacks."

"That said, I know my own value, and I'm not going to do this for free."

She waited a moment for his reaction, then when bid to tell him her price, she elaborated. "I want you to join my crew." A smile crept across her face, "On a temporary basis, that is, if you please. I need a decent seahand to run the crew, while I concentrate on piloting to my old treasure."

"Of course, as you may know based on what you've heard of my sword knot..." She took it and unlooped it from her sword's hilt, holding it up. "I take a lock of hair from every joiner that wants to be on my crew. Thus we are bound to the cause and welfare of our ship and her mission, whatever it may be at a time."

She smiled mischievously, "I'd have a lock of your chin hairs, I'd consider it an honor to add them to my sword knot, if you'd like to join our treasure hunt." She paused, waiting to see his reaction, then a shrug, "I suppose I could find it on my own, but every extra pair of eyes never goes amiss. You can also take your lady onto my ship, although I'd require a lock of hair from her as well. Only my crew ay step foot on my ship without facing my blade, you see. Old customs die hard, you know."

"Should you accept coming onto my ship and helping me seek my treasure, I'd make berth in Hopetoun, as my main port of call when defending Scalvorian waters." She crossed her arms thus, and waited for his answer. She did hope he would take her offer, of adventure for service.

[Darius Baer]

Arc 723, 51st of Vhalar

Darius had come to terms with the fact that one essential aspect of leadership involved people seeking him out for help. With the authority to make certain decisions, he had a responsibility to do what he could for the betterment of Hopetoun and those within it.

But he immediately recognised that Liathen's request was different, because those seeking aid usually came to see him. By contrast, the Pirate Lord had sent him a missive, summoning him to her own ship.

That was unusual, but Darius was not bothered by the unorthodox approach. Liathen had been received in Hopetoun with some scepticism by a handful of settlers. She had, after all, been too late to take part in what the locals now called the Battle of the Bay, and that had caused some to be wary. But the Pirate Lord had proven her worth in the pirate interrogation, and the sinking and salvaging of her fellow Pirate Lords' ships that most of the suspicious whispers had been silenced.

Even so, if there was anything Darius could do to further alleviate any fears, then the least he could do was hear her request. And perhaps the middle of Vhalar was the perfect time, with so many people distracted by the harvest.

The Shield of Scalvoris was an impressive ship. Darius had seen it on the horizon of the Hollow Sea as it had sailed towards Hopetoun, its golden sail unfurled and full of wind, and again in the following trials when they sailed near the Faldrass coastline. But up close, it was an intimidating sight.

Staring up at the tall doorways as he stepped through them, Darius eventually found himself guided to the captain's quarters, where Liathen awaited.

The Pirate Lord's offer was a generous one. When Darius had been seeking her, hoping to return her sword knot, he had not expected much. In fact, if pressed, he wouldn't have been able to explain what he was hoping to get from such an encounter. It was, perhaps, simply to find out if the Pirate Lords still lived. But now one of them was offering to live up to the name of her ship, by acting as a shield for Faldrass and the surrounding Scalvoris waters. Her ship, crew, expertise, and reputation would make Hopetoun immeasurably safer.

There would be a price to pay, of course. That didn't surprise Darius. It just seemed so very...piratical.

The cost itself felt like a reward: sailing with a Pirate Lord to find treasure. The young lad from Scalvoris Town who had grown up overlooking the Hollow Sea and listening to tall tales from his sailor father would have been beside himself with excitement. But Darius hid his enthusiasm for the time being.

"I am honoured," he replied truthfully but stoically, "but there is much to attend to in Hopetoun. I will speak to Astra and bring you our answer."

With a polite bow of his head, Darius excused himself and returned to the settlement.



Less than half a break had passed by the time he returned. And this time, he had a companion.

"Nice ship,"

Astra whispered to Darius as they stepped aboard the Shield of Scalvoris.

"Aye," came the reply.

When the pair stepped into Liathen's quarters, neither could keep a straight face. In truth, they were awed by to be in the ithecal's presence, and the thought of going on a treasure hunt had awoken Astra's inner child just as much as it had Darius'.

"We gratefully accept your invitation," Darius said.

He pulled out a knife, using it to carefully cut away a portion of his beard beneath his chin. He then handed the blade to Astra, who cut off a lock of her brown, curly hair.

As the pair of held out their offerings for Liathen's sword knot, Darius asked the question they both wanted answered: "How soon do we leave?"

[Pig Boy]

But Really, The Treasure is the Friends we Made Along the Way?

When Astra and Darius arrived back at the impressive ship that was the Guardian Liathen's flag vessel, they were allowed to pass the gangplank, which was guarded by a few of her crew, one Ithecal and another human. They nodded knowingly at the two but said nothing. They'd not be truly welcome aboard until they gave their consent to become part of her crew, at least temporarily. Otherwise, Liathen may as well have a mind to throw them to the drowners, or the sharks. But that wasn't really a concern, as the couple proved to be very eager to join up for a good old fashioned treasure hunt.

Liathen gladly took their samples of hair, and wove them expertly into her sword knot, which she produced from beneath her desk. She wove them into what looked like a clover knot, which was curious enough. Seemingly a decorative weave or knot, that wasn't essential to most functions aboard a ship. Unless it was for binding a prisoner. Which might've been unsettling if Darius had a mind to suspect Liathen of ill-will. But she smiled up at them, with her reptilian visage, and stood up from behind her desk.

"Let's get underway then, we'll leave immediately, while the tide is rising." Liathen led them out to the deck of the ship. "Mister Baer, stick close to me, you might learn a thing or two. Astra, is it? Make sure these ropes don't warp as we wind our anchor up from mthe depths. And be sure that we gather all the ropes so we can not take half the pier with us when we ship out."

Liathen led Darius up toward the poop-deck, where the large steering wheel connected to the rudder. Meanwhile, she handed Darius a very special looking rutter, illuminated in painted script and with golden leaf bindings. Inside of it was a manual full of coordinates that would be essential for finding the path to the treasure, presumably, buto to Darius eyes, they were coordinates and numerals that signaled points along the coast of Scalvoris, and directions one might head off from those points.

"Do you have much of a mind for navigation Darius?" Liathen asked him, somewhat concerned, if he would look over the rutter. She took hold of the steering wheel. "Your choice whether you'd like the honor to steer, or to handle the rutter. But make your decision now and stick with it."

So saying, she waited for him to make his decision. Before long, they were backing out of the port of Hopetoun. Their ship sailed slowly out of the natural windbreak, at a slow speed, easily avoiding the danger of the cliffs and sea rocks as they headed southward.

The ship made good speed as they proceeded beyond the sea shelf, and finally began making its way around the horn of Almund and Port Diablo. Liathen told him where they'd be going, "To Scaltoth, specifically, the Scofflaw's Folly. We'll make good speed, and be there within a day if our heading is good and winds be kind."

[Darius Baer]

There was something about an Ithecal's smile that could be a bit off-putting. That wasn't to say Liathen's grin wasn't a genuine expression of happiness at Darius' and Astra's eagerness to join her expedition, but the sight of several sharp teeth did put Darius in mind of a song his mother Jean used to sing to him as a child.

His brief bout of aichmophobia aside, Darius was genuinely pleased to be joining the crew of an actual Pirate Lord, even if it was only temporary.

This might make for an interesting tale to add to Cassion's book!

But was the stay a temporary one? Darius noticed the knot Liathen used to tie his and Astra's follicle sacrifices to her sword knot. Different to all the knots the Ithecal had used previously, it was decorative in appearance, but it wasn't one he recognised from his time at sea. A quick glance to Astra revealed that she too had seen it, and the shoulders she shrugged in response to his silent question suggested she didn't understand its significance either.

The question in Darius' mind centred around the ease or difficulty with which such a knot could be untied. If a single pull could unravel the hair, then it suggested their time aboard the Shield of Scalvoris was to be as short-lived as planned. But if it was a knot that refused to untie, could that mean he and Astra were as bound to the ship as the threads were to the hilt of Liathen's sword?

But he would not dare to ask that question, becau—

"Why a clover knot?"

Astra asked, apparently not nearly as intimidated by Liathen as Darius was.

"It's different to the others."

If they had been sitting, Darius would have tried to sink into his own seat, but all he could do was stand there and hope he looked even smaller than he usually would to an Ithecal anyway.

By the time they were stepping outside, Darius' confidence had largely returned. He sent Astra a warm smile as she set about joining the crew to raise the anchor, before following Liathen to the poop deck. There, the captain offered him the choice of the wheel or the rutter, and he opted for the former. In truth, most of his journeys had been to local areas that he already knew well, and so he hadn't had much use for a rutter - but he wasn't about to admit that to Liathen.

"The Shield of Scalvoris is a famous ship and I'd be honoured to steer her," he responded honestly. "And besides, I've never been to Scofflaw's Folly."

With the anchor raised and the sails unfurled, Darius fulfilled a childhood dream of turning the wheel of a Pirate Lord's ship, and the treasure hunt expedition was under way.

[Pig Boy]

Liathen gave a smirk that seemed almost smug to Darius, as Astra asked her question of her. She gave a pause for a moment as she finished security the knot to the rest of the sword, and then brought it forward, leaning into her desk so that they could take a look. “Oh but it’s not really a clover. Four hoops or ‘leaves’, see? That makes it a shamrock. One loop to wrap around each chamber of the human heart.” Liathen cackled, in a most unsettling way, but then turned her head to wink at Astra.

Whether she’d been kidding about that, or if there was some purpose to the knot. If what she said was a deflection, it served to shut them up at least for the moment about the knot she’d tied.

All would become clear, perhaps, in the fullness of time.

On deck, Liathen smirked and nodded to Darius, as she took the navigational data from him, allowing that he would take the wheel. He’d have to get used to steering the ship, if they intended to make the Scofflaw’s Folly run around the shores of Scaltoth.

“Oh it’s a dangerous spot, but fear not, my Shield has certain features that make her uniquely equipped to handle the tides of those shallows.” Liathen said of Scofflaw’s folly to Darius…



The next day or so was spent in routine, perhaps even tedious chores andd pass times aboard the ship. Men and women tossed dice to gamble away their rations or nels, others sang as they worked, and yet more were focused on the task at hand.

A woman approached Darius then, at some point before he took his break. “I’m here to relieve you. Mirai is the name.” She said, “Time for you to rest, I’ll take the wheel, captain’s orders.”

She looked at him, and he could see that she was a biqaj by the curve of her ears and the slight discoloration of her golden eyes. “Something wrong?” She asked, if he lingered at the wheel. Then she sighed, “Don’t worry, just go down and enjoy the fellowship of the crew, we’ll all sup together when we make anchor off of the horn, past Port Diablo and Almund.”

[Darius Baer]

Darius and Astra were so eager to hear Liathen explain her choice of knot that they almost bumped their heads as they leaned in. Although it wasn't really much of an explanation at all, with the Ithecal appearing to revel in keeping her secret.

All it served to do was keep the Hopetoun pair in the dark, wondering if they would one trial be given a proper answer.

Perhaps that would come if they earned the captain's respect; perhaps it would never come at all.

Regardless, it stopped the two of them from asking any further questions.



Above deck, Darius tried to conceal his excitement at the opportunity to helm the Shield of Scalvoris. It was a fine ship, and a famous defender of the Hollow Sea. But, as with all ships, it had its own unique features. The deck had seen battles and defeated sailors turned into slaves. Marks on the rails told tales of scrapes and close calls. There were familiar creaks and groans that would remind its crew in their sleep that they were home.

It also handled in its own way, and as helmsman, Darius had what he considered a magnificent opportunity to learn how it moved.

And all the while, he imagined how his father might react to this most recent turn of events. Josef Baer had spoken of his encounter with a Pirate Lord, but this was something that would be considered much more impactful to the Baer family history. Josef had survived a Pirate Lord; Darius had been recruited by one.

It was late morning when Mirai arrived. Darius was weary, having navigated through part of the night, which required much more concentration than during sunlight. So the sight of a fellow sailor who wanted to take the helm was a welcome one.

"Well met," he replied to Mirai. "I'm Darius."

He could see that the woman was a biqaj, but without knowing her, he couldn't interpret which emotion the golden colour of her eyes was expressing, and so he took her at her word.

He did linger for a bit, though, hoping to make idle conversation about the nature of helming the Shield of Scalvoris. Rightly or wrongly, he assumed she had steered the ship before, and he thought the shared experience might enable them to find some common ground.

Once that was done, however, he decided to heed Mirai's advice, and stepped below deck. He was tired, and the opportunity to get some rest and get to know some of the crew was an enticing one. He also sought out Astra, curious to know how her time aboard Liathen's ship had been thus far.

[Pig Boy]

Darius and Astra enjoyed the hospitality of the crew, overnight and through the next few days. It took a while, more than just one night spent aboard the Shield of Scalvoris, but eventually the crew did open up in a more personal way to the new mates that were Darius and Astra. One young man, named Ishriel stated that he'd been taken as a slave, having served aboard a privateer bunty hunter, who drove his crew near to exhaustion and even death. He was brutal to his own crew. When Liathan took him prisoner, and dispatched the privateer captain, the crew treated the new prisoners and slaves so well, that many of them were so mollified. They could do ought but join the merry crew of Liathan, craving the fair treatment and fellowship.

There were many others who had joined Liathen from the start, who'd chosen the life of a pirate, and deserted the Yithral navy for the waters of Scalvoris, where they could exercise their thirst for violence and adventure. They did so, plundering the seas of foreign merchants as well as privateers and other types looking to exploit the island's resources. Or worse, to desecrate the grave of Chrien's Mother, Fei.

They were all of them full of fanciful tales of derring on the sea, as well as superstitious fables that warned sailors of specific points around the island. Half of the warning fables were meant to ward off people searching for treaure. Others were genuinely to warn off sailors from genuine hazards. Some of them were both.

Speaking of, Darius was manning the helm on the third day of the voyage, having spent that much time on the bridge of the ship. Sailing could be menial and mundane and tedious work, especially when all one had to do of a day was to turn the wheel of a ship and adhere to the heading of the navigator.

That was until they came along the shore of the island, near Scaltoth. "There she is." Liathen said, finally arriving from her seclusion in her cabin, to meet Darius and Astra on the bridge. "Scofflaw's Folly. A coral hazard. The waters here are said to heave with all the breadth of a mountain, down to a valley, trapping many a ship in the razor sharp coral that lay at the sea floor."

She pointed toward the roiling waves, and squinted her eyes. "How's your helmsmanshhip, Darius? Can you lead my ship along that coast, to where we might moor along the shore? It's as siple as following the tides and the ebb and flow of the water. I've seen how you handle my ship, I know you're up to it."

"Besides," She added, stepping down from the bridge, toward the rest of her crew who were busily preparing for the ride to follow, "Someone has to whip these layabouts into shape, after three uneventful trials." She smiled at Darius and Astra, and then went along the deck of the ship, barking orders and assigning her crew to their stations.

[Darius Baer]

Darius had always considered his father to be a great storyteller. His childhood had been sprinkled with tales of adventure from Josef's times at sea. There had been vicious pirates and sea creatures, fierce squalls and hidden treasures.

At first, captured by the vast imagination that only a youngster could boast, Darius had assumed all of the stories to be true.

By the time he was a teenager, the younger Baer had decided they were all mere fantasy; imaginary stories dreamt up to fascinate his younger self.

But in more recent eras, he had realised there was some nuance. Some of the tales were purely fictional, but perhaps taught a lesson for the listener. Others has a kernel of truth in them, but had been exaggerated for the purpose of entertainment. And others were much more accurate accounts of events that had actually taken place.

Darius' own experiences on the ocean had taught him not to take other sailors' stories lightly, and so he listened intently to those told by the crew of the Shield Of Scalvoris. That included Ishriel, whose journey had taken him from privateer to slavery to Pirate Lord crew member. The young man's tale reflected positively on Liathen, which went some way to reassuring Darius and Astra that perhaps the ithecal's knot was less to worry about than they had initially thought it might be.



The journey had been typically quiet. One of the reasons sailors told stories was that those moments of danger and excitement were usually separated by extended periods of nothingness, as if the tidal flows of the ocean were themselves trying to make up for the stagnation of activity.

So there was a burst of excitement when Liathen asked Darius to navigate the ship into Scofflaw's Folly. Darius had never been there before, though he had heard rumours of the place. The novelty of sailing into unfamiliar waters was enough on its own to entice him, and the ithecal's vote of confidence was well-received. That being said, Liathen's description of the dangers the coral posed made him cautious - or was that another tale that had been embellished with each successive retelling?

Nodding his head in confirmation of Liathen's instructions, the bearded blond patiently waited for the sailors to find their places. As the sails were trimmed, he turned the helm and the Shield Of Scalvoris began to make its way into Scofflaw's Folly. The coral was visible, and sailors leaning over both port and starboard called out warnings as Darius carefully negotiated his way between razor-sharp walls on either side. The sailor in the crow's nest looked further ahead to scout a path, while another sailor stood upon the prow and held onto the rigging to identify anything immediately in front.

The majority of the crew were silent, to ensure that each important instruction could be heard. The usual hubbub of activity among the crew had been reduced to the creaks of the ship and the water lapping against the hull, punctuated by the occasional warning yell so that the ship could make its way through.

Darius knew that it was a display of trust, not only from Liathen herself, but from her crew, to allow Darius to stand at the helm in potentially treacherous waters. Her faith in him carried weight, and he focused all his attention on ensuring it had been well-placed.

[Pig Boy]

One of the older salts aboard the ship took to standing next to Darius as he went through the motions, steering the ship through the perilous shoals. Tide was high but they were holding on as they slid into the shallower portions of the reefs that threatened to undermine their hull's integrity by grinding it into wood dust. Thankfully Liathens ship was a very sturdy one, with all kinds of modifications that rendered it suitable to this passage. A custom designed keel allowed it both to travel over shallows and rivers, but also keep speed at sea, as the front dipped forward, the steeper keel toward the back of the ship adjusted with the tilt of the winds blowing it forward.

This all led to a perfect conflux of physics which gave the ship an ability to navigate these waters. Darius may have had a moment to enjoy and just absorb the magnificence of the moment. Being the steerer of a Pirate Lord's ship. Looking for buried treasure. But the old man simply wouldn't leave him to it. Inundating him with all manner of disastrous stories that took place in these very waters.

"And then the Mighty Endgame came to a halt in these waters, reef rising high above her captain and crew, like a veritable wall of razors and deadly poisonous fishes! None of the crew would see their rummies and salt wives when they got back to Port Diablo. They say they still sail the waters beneath the surface, in Chrien's domain of the upside down ocean...."

He spoke more nonsense, but all of it utterly catastrophic in nature.

Liathen shouted over the din of the crew going about their tasks. "Twenty five degrees to port!" She cried, and Darius if he followed her directions would run almost against a large reef that threatened to grind the side of the hull. "Better watchem pink razors under the waters, laddy." The old man quipped, with a raspy laugh, his teeth showing black and yellow spots.

So the way continued, with Darius dealing with the stories told by this old man as he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, namely getting the ship into the cove where her treasure was kept.

Thankfully, over the next afternoon, he made it through no fewer than a dozen close-calls, not for lack of skill but just the sheer difficulty of threading a needle through the hide of a living Scalvoris Sohr khal with a temper. The sea was ready to clench its teeth at any moment through all of his sailing, but Darius owed it to his incredible sea-faring skills and adequate navigation that the crew got through safely, ableit witth a few scuffs of the hull on either side.

They arrived at the cove, and dLiathen shouted, "Drop Anchor you Scalvies! Heave!" so the anchor was lowered in deep and safe waters, relatively. The anchor hit the bottom of the cove without incident,, and the ship was secure in place.

Liathan came up onto the castle where the steering wheel was, and pat Darius on the shoulder, "Well done. I think I owe you the honor of stepping onto the first rowboat to hit these shores in over a decade."

So saying, the rowboats were readied for boarding and lowering into the waters. They would make way into the seacavern where Liathen's treasure was held. "I want you to command dthe first landing party, Darius. I'll be with you in the second rowboat, we're splitting into two landing parties. One will go through the cavern, the other will clamber over the cliff-face of the sea caavern, to ensure we're not taken unawares by any savage tribals. Your choice which position to take."

[Darius Baer]

Steering an unfamiliar ship with an unfamiliar crew through familiar and treacherous waters took a lot of concentration, so the old man's tales of woe and destruction might not have received as captive an audience as they deserved. Darius was trying to listen to what other sailors were saying, heeding their warnings, and avoiding the many perils of Scofflaw's Folly, but the aged seadog's "contributions" weren't helping. More than once, Darius found himself almost having to move around the elder fellow aside so he could hear the directions more clearly. On one such occasion, the delay caused by having to navigate himself around the man meant the Shield Of Scalvoris was itself unable to navigate the waters without harm. Darius was immediately grateful for the quality of the ship's hull as it rubbed against nearby coral that would have punctured almost any other vessel.

Curiously, the old man's tales appeared to run out just as the ship escaped the coral of Scofflaw's Folly, and Liathen called for the anchor to be dropped. It was only when the chain attached to it went taut that Darius allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. The Shield Of Scalvoris, too, appeared to groan in relaxation, as the tension on the chain replaced that of the situation itself.

Darius looked back out from the stern, as if the tides might not conceal the path they had followed, but his attention was soon pulled back by Liathen. The ithecal appeared eager to have Darius involved in the next part of their journey, and the Scalvorian was equally eager to play his part. Presented with the two options, he only took a few moments of thought to decide.

"I'll climb," he said, with a deferential bow of his head. "It's your treasure - it doesn't seem right that I should see where your secrets are kept."

He nodded towards the rocky outline beyond.

"Besides," he added with a slight smile, "I'll make a smaller silhouette than you, climbing up that rockface."



By the time the longboats were being lowered, Darius had gathered the equipment he felt would be necessary for the next part of their endeavour. He had his longsword and dagger, along with a bow that he hoped he wouldn't be required to use. Astra sat next to him, on the same thwart, and she too had a bow slung over her shoulder - but she was far more accomplished with the weapon than he was. The others present had also brought weapons and equipment, and two of them wore coiled ropes over one shoulder.

Darius and Astra were already known to the others in the longboat, but Darius was eager to know if any of the others present had been to Scofflaw's Folly before, and to identify the strengths of those present. It was important to understand who felt comfortable with rope or weapon in hand. Once they landed, anyone familiar with the terrain would lead the way, or failing that, the strongest climber. Darius was aware that such a role might be his.

As the boats met the water, and the the oars were dipped, Darius called for the crew to use quiet voices, and when he signalled across to Liathen in the other boat, he used basic hand signals, rather than yell. She had mentioned the possibility of hostile tribes in the area, and if they hadn't already seen the large ship in the bay, the bearded blond had no interest in drawing their attention.