CHAPTER 12

Acheron is a world of magic and wonders, of monsters and treasures. The greatest treasures of all are the Dragon Gemstones. The shards of the mightiest power ever known. Wars have been fought, empires have been raised and toppled, and journeys have been made to all four corners of the known world in the pursuit of even one of the precious gemstones. To possess just one is to know power beyond the reckoning of the common man; to possess a dozen is to be like one of the great magicians… but if one were to collect all one hundred… the fabric of reality itself would become like a book to be re-written.

Our story continues… The Dragon Prince and his three Royal guards turned half-dragons by a foul curse have secured the second of the one hundred Dragon Gemstones, and the personal vessel of Pirate King Maelstrom, the Stormbinder. Having left the pirate stronghold of Neptune’s Hold behind, they set sail for their home away from home, Dragon Haven.

Near the equator of Acheron, north of the Beastlands, are the jungle islands of ‘The Forbidden Archipelago’. A land largely unaltered by any civil hand, brimming with monsters, and beasts of all kinds. The last truly wild land in all the world. The shores of the various islands are dotted with the ruins of those that sought to tame the wilds and failed. Nestled in the middle of the ruin-marked isles is one small island where the fires of a village burn.

Larxene smiled as the crisp sea air blew through her wild green hair and fluttered through her wings. She loved sailing: the sound of the crashing waves against the hull, the smell of the salt in the clean air, and the feeling of gliding across the water to parts unknown. It was these loves that inspired her to follow the path of a Corsair when she was turned into a half-dragon. “Alright!” She called out to Zhanatos. “We’re coming around Dragon Haven to the dock. Go to the forward sail and shift it to the port side.”

Zhanatos the crimson-scaled Berserker called back to her, “Right!” and ran to the large lever of the forward sail and grunted as he pushed with all his might… in the wrong direction.

“No… port! Shift it to the PORT side!” Larxene called out.

“Right?” Zhanatos called back in confusion.

“NO! PORT is LEFT! Remember, ‘port’ and ‘left’ both have four letters.” The Corsair called out and then sighed

“Oh… right!” He called out as he ducked under the large lever to push from the other side.

“NO LEFT!” Came the frustrated shout in reply.

“I meant ‘right’ in the ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’ sense that time, not the directional one!” With a grunt of effort, the forward sail was twisted so the wind caught it from the opposite side.

The one part of sailing Larxene wasn’t so in love with was her ‘crew’. It hadn’t been easy getting the ship to function properly with only the four of them and with her being the only one that knew anything about sailing, still, they were moments from home sweet home, now.

The door behind Larxene cracked open and Xion the party’s Shaman blinked into the bright sunlight and then stepped onto the deck. Her face lit up with delight as she spotted their island home. “Oh thank goodness! I have been in dire need of a proper bath for days.” She sighed longly for the feeling of warm water and the scent of her perfumes. Xion was not one for ‘roughing it’ in the wilds. Even her room on the boat had been too… ‘rustic’ for her tastes. The lack of proper care had given her skin that weird blotchy feeling she hated so much. She looked forward to checking on her garden and reading one of the books from the pile she had gathered but not yet gotten to.

Larxene giggled to her friend, knowing all too well her desire for the finer things in life. “Well, if you want to get home a little sooner than the rest of us, I could use your help. We’re going to need some help from the dock to park the ship, namely a few workers to ready some mooring lines. Can you fly over and let them know?”

Xion nodded quickly, “Anything to get off this boat sooner!” She winced as she realized the implications of her words. “Um… not that this isn’t a nice boat, Larxene. You’ve been an excellent captain but well… ya know.”

With a reassuring smile, Larxene told her friend. “Hey! It's okay. I know you didn’t mean anything rude. Now get going the sooner the ship is docked the sooner you can relax.”

“Aye, aye captain!’ Xion replied with a sharp salute then took off in a sprint to gain some momentum before take off. The half-dragons were able to fly to a limited degree with their wings. It was a difficult task as the humanoid shape was not designed with aerodynamics in mind. Still, Xion as the group's best flyer was able to run to the side of the boat, vault over the edge, and get airborne impressively quickly. After a few strong flaps, she was able to gain enough altitude to gaze over all of Dragon Haven as she glided over the island just above the level of the tropical trees.

All appeared well at the simple village. On the west end the farmstead was being tended by a group of lizardfolk, humanoid lizards an offshoot of dragon lineage, the first wheat harvest was being collected which meant Dragon Haven would have its first freshly baked bread soon.

Towards the middle of the city were the smithy and tannery, operations appeared to be going smoothly. The hide of some great beast was stretched on a tanning rack and some of the Dragonbloods, a group of humans with a natural magical ability to shift into dragon-like forms, was shaving off the fur. Others were cutting up an already tanned hide and shaping it into armor. The Dragonbloods were a rare people nearly hunted into extinction by the Grand Empire of Tal’dartheria. Allowing them to live on Dragon Haven was a somewhat controversial choice, but Xion believed Radais made the right call. Those poor people had nowhere else to go after all…

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The residential part of the village had grown since the team left for their last mission. At least a dozen new thatch-roofed huts had been built by islands only true native residents, Kobolds. While most adventurers thought of the little dragonoids as trap-building pests, with the right guidance they could be loyal and industrious. While they weren’t quite intelligent enough to hold a conversation they were excellent builders and had been a big help in creating living spaces for the growing village.

On the far north end of the island up in the hills was the one stone structure thus far created on the island, the magician’s tower; which housed the Waygate. Waygates were part of the worldwide ‘Ways Network’ a means of traveling to different cities via portals. The Waygate was the only practical way onto or off the island, thus it was important to keep it secure. As Xion flew overhead she saw one of the kobolds caring something toward the dock. Judging by the size, shape, color, and red wax seal it was probably a message from the Adventures Association. In addition to travel the Ways Network was also used for postal service.

Xion began to have a sinking feeling. In part due to a loss of forward momentum and thus altitude, but largely from the letter rapidly being carried to the dock. If that was a message from the Adventures Association it probably meant they had another quest for the team. If that was true that meant Radais was going to drag them off to the gods know-where to fight some monsters or something of that nature and she hasn’t even so much as dipped a single toe in a bath since they left for Wincam two weeks ago! With a frown of determination, the Shaman flapped her wings jetting forward determined to beat the kobold to the dock. She had to get that letter before Radais did.

The messenger kobold was surprisingly quick and nimble. Thanks to their small size they were able to quickly navigate the foot traffic of the small village center by ducking between the legs and around pedestrians.

Xion put her full flying prowess on display diving down to just above street level to gain momentum forcing a few of the villager residents to duck out of the way. At one point she caught a headwind and was forced to grab onto the branch of the tree, swing on it like a gymnast on a bar to regain speed, and then kick off the truck to resume flying. With one last determined flap she glided down to the docks just a few paces ahead of the kobold. She just needed to grab the letter from him before the boat arrived… Oh, shoot! The boat! She had almost forgotten why she flew here to begin with. Quickly she found the dock master, a half-dragon (a natural one not a dragon subject to a curse like her and her team) named Balasar, and explained Larxene’s request for mooring lines.

“Our little fishing dock isn’t designed for a galleon, but we’ll make due.” Balasar nodded then called out to everyone nearby. “Hey lads! Get some rope and make it quick. The Prince and his crew are due to arrive shortly, and we gotta figure out how to park the new ship!” The dock master excused himself to see to the task.

Xion breathed a sigh of relief, that was one issue settled now on to the next. She looked around for the kobold with the letter. She spotted them at the end of the dock just as the ship carrying her friends sailed up to the pier. The first mooring line was thrown up to the deck where Zhanatos caught and tied it to the deck fittings. To her shock, the kobold with the letter in their mouth began climbing up the mooring line to the deck. “No, no, no!” She chanted in a panic. She was too exhausted to fly up onto the ship. She sighed as she watched Radais exit from the captain’s cabin and noticed the waiting messenger.

“What have we here?” The Dragon Prince leaned down to collect the note. “Thank you for your service.” He smiled at the kobold who nodded in return and scampered away. He broke the red wax Adventure’s Association seal and began reading the letter from the Guild Leader Master Delano Hanover. Most of it was the same old droll… ‘kingdom at stake’, ‘power vacuum’, ‘new king’, ‘roving bands of orcs’, and promises of riches. It wasn’t until he saw two very important words did the letter steal his full attention and he knew his team's next mission. As he hopped over the railing of the ship and used his wings to glide down to the dock he announced to all gathered Xion, Zhanatos, and Larxene included, “Everyone we have a new mission!”

Xion calmly approached Radais and replied. “No, we don’t. Not yet, at least.”

Radais blinked in confusion, “Sure we do. Look I just got this letter from--” He was cut off as Xion grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward her and gave him THE most terrifyingly angry… gentle smile… he had ever seen.

“My Prince… let me be clear… if you drag me off to anotHER ADVENTURE JUST AFTER WE GOT BACK FROM THE LAST ONE! BEFORE I CAN GET A DECENT BATH I AM GOING TO--” At this point, she began speaking in Draconic; needless to say, it wasn’t the sort of Draconic, a Royal guard would normally use toward her Prince.

“Wow!” Larxene exclaimed after Xion finished her rant. “I didn’t know she knew so many curse words…”

Zhanatos chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and you’re a foul-mouthed sailor, so that WAS impressive.”

Larxene shot him a look that was equal parts annoyed and slightly confused.

“Well you were yelling all sorts of four-letter words at me earlier, weren’t ya?” The berserker smirked as he noted his friends' annoyed eyebrow twitch.

“How is it you don’t know port from starboard but managed to come up with that zinger?” Larxene demanded.

“Because a dragon is never too dull or too bright; he is as precisely clever as he means to be.” Zhanatos nodded sagely as if what he just said wasn’t little more than profound-sounding nonsense.

Larxened invited Zhanatos to ‘go port himself’ and realized she now found herself agreeing with Xion about needing some downtime, or at least time away from Mr. Just Clever Enough To Be Annoying.

Xion took a few quick gasping breaths as she composed herself.

Radais smiled his best princely smile and rested a hand upon her shoulder. “Alright, tomorrow Zhanatos and I will travel to Highhelm to meet with Master Hanover….” He silenced Xion with a reassuring nod before she spoke again. “I’ll make sure it takes us the whole day. We’ll probably need it for gathering supplies and other preparations anyways. We’ll leave the day after that, which gives you a few days to relax… I know you would rather stay in Dragon Haven, but…” He turned the note around and pointed at the two words that held his interest ‘Dragon Gemstone.’ “We have a lead on number three. We need to follow up on this.”