The next day I woke up early as the light from the window hit me square in the face. Getting up I got dressed donning all my gear and returned the key to the desk lady. Walking through town I was pointed to the docks by some random passersby and eventually made it there. At the dock I saw Eric, Kristoff and the merchant parked by a sailing ship .

I walked up and greeted them. "Good morning guys".

The two men stopped their conversation and turned towards me "Ah John, I was beginning to think you wouldnt come," said Eric.

"Ha my bad i slept like a log last night" I said scratching the back of my head.

"Aye first time drawing blood will do that to you". Said Kristoff rather wistfully.

"Enough of that let me introduce you to the ship's captain", Eric said, leading me to where some random port handwas speaking to a man dressed in a typical swashbucklers outfit.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but Captain Gerio, this is the boy i was telling you about" he said gesturing towards me.

The man paused and looked over to me extending his hand out "Ah you must be John Eric has told me all about you lad id be happy to let you come aboard to travel with us"

Shaking his hand I responded "Well met Captain Gerio I'm not sure what Eric has told you but yes I was seeking to travel around a bit , where is your boat headed?".

"Yes they have told me as much, well currently the plan is to sail to White harbor to drop off some goods. Afterwards we'll probably dock for a few weeks to let the crew rest as this is the end of our westeros route. We've been traveling since Sunspear in Dorne , it's a pity we didn't meet sooner. You could have traveled with us before. Anyways after our rest we'll be heading to East Watch to pick up some cargo and then across the narrow sea to Braavos we go. How does that sound to you?"

"Sounds perfect to me, I'll get to see a bit of the North before going to Essos. How much would the trip cost me?" I asked.

The captain waved a hand through the air dismissively "There is no need for payment , just like Eric and Kristoff I would just ask you to help around the ship as one of the crew and of course defend us from attacks if need be".

With the matter of payment out of the way I was shown to the bunk I'd been staying at. Eric and Kristoff both came onto the ship as they were hired to follow the cargo until its destination in White harbor.

I was then quickly escorted to the deck and made to work already untying and tying knots to get the ship ready for travel. Eventually the merchant left and Kristoff and Eric began working alongside me and the rest of the crew. We set sail around an hour later and after some time at sea the captain called me over.

"So they told me you have access to old mysteries of strength and healing. Do you have anything else that might be useful to me and my crew?" he asked

I pondered a bit before responding "I actually think i have something that may be right up your alley" I said. "Do you have a spare barrel around?" I asked.

The Captain's eyebrow quirked at my request "Yes we do have a couple not being used for water" he said.

"Great, could I trouble you for a small barrel of seawater then?" A minute later I was brought over a small barrel about 5 gallons worth. I transferred some of the water out of the barrel until I had approximately 3 gallons worth.

"Ok do you have a preference for wine or mead?"

"Wine is for those ladies in the palaces we want mead don't we men"He screamed "Yahhh" came the excited voices of the crew.

"Well then watch this" i said unslinging my ukulele. "Tears to wine" I said , striking a chord. In front of everyone's eyes the water turned brownish and smelled of honey. "Now who would like the first sip?" I asked.

The captain raised his drinking horn, "The captain drinks first of course". He pulled the cork from the barrel and poured himself a glass taking a swig. "That is good he said it also makes me feel more focused?".

"Oh yes i forgot this will make you more clear of mind for about 10 minutes" i said remembering the secondary effect of the spell.

"Well what are you waiting for men? Everyone get a glass and let us toast to our new crewmates" the captain yelled toward the crew.

The rest of the night was filled with jokes and games with me teaching them random games like rock paper scissors and charades. I did get paranoid about pirates at one point but was told we were close enough to Gulltown still that no pirates roamed these waters so we could relax for now. Seeing as this was the case I cooked up another barrel of mead and we drank well into the night.

I was awoken by a splash as water hit my face causing me to sputter. "Rise and shine John" smiled Kristoff from above me.

I sat up massaging my head "wow my head is pounding" I said.

Here some water he said passing me a flask. "Thanks, how are you not hungover?"

"Comes with experience, my boy" he said laughing.

After a bit more lazing around I got to work helping out where I could. I asked around and the journey would apparently take about 6 days if we don't run into any storms or trouble. The days passed slowly out at sea and on our 3rd day of voyage we ran into trouble. It was about noon with me just singing a sea shanty with the crew when all of a sudden a horn sounded off from the crows nest above us.

"Iron born ship incoming" yelled the crewmate from the crows nest.

Quest: Survive and defeat the IronBorn raiding party.

"Shit Ironborn in the east they must be desperate , everyone to your stations grab your weapons" said the Captain.

The ship closed in on us as it looked built for speed rather than being built sturdy. As it came forth the crew all got into battle position and I myself grabbed my ukulele and strapped my sword to my side.

"What are you doing lad now is not the time for music , take out your sword" screamed one of the deck hands. I ignored him of course knowing my music would be helpful in the coming fight.

Thankfully siege weapons were not common when not in full scale war so the ironborn had to board our ship and take it manually. The thing was they did have bows and I narrowly dodged the initial volley when they got close. Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky and I saw a couple of deckhands go down.

From my position behind a random barrel I saw a boarding plank was being put down and 14 men were ready to rush onto the ship. I saw our side only had about 8 men standing ready to fight. Not the worst odds but i would have to join in meaning i would have to play and fight at the same time. I dropped the ukulele and used Summon Instrument to conjure up a harmonica. Problem is that it took several seconds for the harmonica to wink into existence in my hand. As the harmonica finally materialized in my left hand I brought it to my mouth and started playing Zelda's theme, with my right hand I drew my short sword and joined the others in the battle formation just in time to see the plank secured and the 14 men rush over to our ship.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Defend the ship", said Captain Gerio. The battle which should have been one sided was actually fairly even with Inspire Courage and Draconic Rage allowing the deckhands to actually fight against the more experienced IronBorn. I locked eyes with one of the raiders and he rushed towards me slashing out with a sword. It may have been the rocking of the boat but the Iron borns swing went wide (6) allowing me to dodge out of the way. I stepped up attempting to slash at the raider (11) but he was able to block the blow with his sword pushing me back. I stumbled a bit but did not lose my footing and continued playing. The man came in for another slash but I was able to easily dodge (9) and slashed out (22) this time connecting and causing a fatal wound across his chest(9 dmg) taking him out of the fight. The rest of the crew was still engaged and I saw 2 had fallen but there were more than 5 casualties on the other side.

'Hell yeah we're winning' I thought to myself. Then I caught the glimpse of movement across the ship from the other ship ,4 more men were coming to cross over. 'Hell no i thought to myself' moving to stand at the foot of the gang plank. I waited till 2 men were on the plank crossing before I blew a sharp note into my harmonica activating Chord of shards. This time the spell made considerably bigger shards which flew into the two men killing one outright and causing the second man to fall into the water. The last man on the other side had thankfully been in range and the shards had hit him equally as hard causing critical damage leaving him immobile on the floor.

Chord of shards: 2d6= 11 damage.

I didn't have time to celebrate however as I looked around and saw the others were still engaged in battle so I decided to help them out. Nearest me was a deckhand engaging with an ironborn so I charged toward them flanking him from behind and slashed out (22) causing a deep gash (11 dmg) to his back even through his armor taking him out of the fight. Looking around I saw that the battle was over with only Captain Gerio and a particularly big iron born still engaged in battle.

I made a move to go over and help him but was stopped when a hand blocked my way looking over. I saw it was Eric. "No interfering, it's a fight between captains and Gerio wont let his honor be stained by having one of us interfere" he said watching from the sidelines.

I gave a nod and continued playing. I knew my performance would end soon but I would play till it did to give him the extra advantage. The battle continued for a few more exchanges before Gerio in an impressive display parried a blow with his cutlass and riposted slashing the man in the face. The man of course dropped his axe to cup his face in pain leading to Gerio stabbing him in the neck ending the fight once and for all.

Quest completed: Survive the iron born raiding party

See told you it wouldn't be your last battle and look at you got out of it unscathed.

+1500 xp

No damage taken: +300 xp

No crewmates die: X

Level: 2 (3500/5000)

With that a strange ding happened and time seemingly stopped as a sheet appeared in front of my eyes demanding me to choose new spells.

I groaned so many possibilities, some for damage and some for utility. I chose my cantrips first as they weren't too important picking up Guide Vessel, Simple Bed, and Animate Tools. Next up was the first level spells which took me a considerably longer time to comb through but in the end i picked up two spells a bard should always have: Grease and Charm Person. There were more I wanted to pick up but those would have to wait till the next level sadly. As soon as I was done time resumed and I saw Captain Gerio fling the blood from his sword wiping some sweat off his brow. I looked around and saw some crewmates sporting injuries and trying to tend to the wounded on the floor. Some others were going to the bodies of the incapacitated enemies to finish them off.

Seeing this I stepped up and shouted "Wait, stop, don't kill any of them!" I shouted. To their credit the men stopped at my words. "Captain Gerio as you know I'm able to heal and alot of our crewmates have wounds. The iron born are also in need of healing."

"And what you'd heal the men who came aboard to kill us?" screamed one of the crewmates. "Of course not , we're headed for White Harbor are we not? I say we give them a choice: Die here or go to the wall".

The captain pondered for a moment before nodding. "Seems fair , gather the dead and dying men". Within moments the bleeding crewmates and iron born were brought to one place.

"Please roll well" I thought as I focused on using Channel Energy.

Channel Energy: 6

From my body I felt a burst of energy and opening my eyes I saw as the wounds of the dying stitched back up magically. This helped stabilize and heal up most of them but 2 crewmates still needed some more healing so I was forced to use Cure Light wounds to heal them. Of the crew sadly 2 were too far gone to be healed and of the enemies only 7 survived being healed. Once they were given the choice of wall or death, somehow 3 decided death was a better option with 4 of them being killed and thrown overboard. The rest were tied up below deck.

As I stood contemplating the men I had killed in this battle Captain Gerio came over to talk to me "Ah john my boy i didn't get a chance to thank you this battle could have been much worse without you here. For one thing I felt as if I was a man possessed my blade cut through their armor like paper. But then on top of that you healed the fallen men , were all in your debt".

"Ha it's no problem, it's the least i could do with you guys ferrying me around". I looked toward the Ironborns ship. "What will we do with that ship?".

"We'll sell it, of course I'll have some of the crew man it and we'll be able to sell it at white harbor. That coupled with the loot the IronBorn already have on board makes this quite the profitable venture. Though of course a portion will go to the family of our fallen comrades".

"Of course," I said. 'Man this guy is honorable even giving his dead crews family a piece of the loot'

The rest of the days were spent in calm as there were no more attacks. I did get the chance to test out charm person on the IronBorn, sure it was a bit unethical to use it on tied up prisoners but it wasn't a malicious spell. I learned from the tests I ran that Charm person was a pretty damn good spell. When used on its own it of course made the target treat you like a friend but when it ended they went right back to how they were. I however learned that if i casted Charm Person and then used my Comedy to Diplomacy they would rise one step and stay there. The reason this was essential was that it was easier to convince someone to like more if they already considered you a friend versus starting from nothing. By the end of the 3 days I had the Ironborn regarding me as a sworn brother and they promised me they would help out at the wall and stay there. Did I feel bad because it was basically mind control? Yes but it was for a good cause the more bodies at the Wall the better.

I also got to test out my Animate tools by having my Ukulele play some tunes by itself. I let it perform some background for the most part but sometimes I would duet it by using Summon Instrument to do a little performance.

At noon of the 6th day we finally pulled into port at White Harbor. When my feet hit the ground I let out a loud sigh "Gods is it good to finally be on solid land again" I said.

Location Discovered: White Harbor +100 xp

The 100 xp didn't hurt either. When we disbanded I accompanied the Captain to sell the loot and the ship to the local merchants assuring him I would be able to get a good deal for them.

Through some use of Charm Person and joking around we were able to leave the Merchants guild 1400 gold richer. When all was said and done with the splits we were each supposed to get 155. I however was given 230 when I asked where the extra money came from. The Captain told me the crewmates I had healed gave me some of their portion. I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth so I took the money and went on my way spending a silver to stay in a relatively nice inn by the port.

While in my room I wrote my thoughts in a journal using a quill I had bought at the market. The captain told me they would set sail to Eastwatch in a month. It would have been sooner but due to the crew mens death it would take some time to send word to their families as well as needing to hire new crew. This benefited me because just to get to Winterfell alone would take 11-12 days. Tomorrow I'd be buying a horse and hopefully it would be a fast one as there was no time to waste. Also of note is that i think im a bastard of Oberyn Martell i had written as much in my backstory when making this character but looking in the mirror it seemed it could be the case. I had always been told I sort of resembled the actor in real life but now it seemed more true. I wasn't sure how that would benefit me now but in the far future it could make for a potential alliance point. I finished writing and let out a yawn.

"Tomorrow will be a new day," I said, getting into bed and falling asleep.