“Elderman White?” Radais inquired as his group approached.
“Sorry, the tavern’s closed. Ain’t no ale left in the barrels, and the beds are already packed up. You best be--” Willam blinked in surprise as he turned to look at the team. “Well… you lot clearly ain’t from round here. If you’ve come to rob the place, sorry Redmane and his crew beat you to it. Nothing left here, and after this, no one will be left either.”
Radais introduced himself with a princely bow, “No, sir. I am Dragon Prince Radais Knightbane, and these are my royal guardsmen.”
Elderman White raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
Radais pressed on, “We’re from the Adventurer's Association.”
Elderman White blinked a few times and then nodded slowly. “Right, right. We put in a call for aid before the attack. Well… I’m sorry to say you’re a day too late. Which might actually be for the best.” He gestured to indicate the destroyed state of the town. “Wincam is no more; even if I thought you four could stand a chance against Redman and his monster, we haven’t the money to pay you anymore. The Speaker delivered to us an ultimatum ‘Surrender every scrap of coin we had or else’...” He hung his head and, with a heavy sigh, added. “In hindsight, I wish I had. Because what you see around you now is the consequences of his ‘Or else’.”
“What happened here? What was the ‘monster’ of which you speak?” asked Radias.
Elderman sighed and seemed to need a moment to compose himself, “It was a beast like no other I’ve ever heard of save for nightmare and legend. A creature that rose from the depths and blocked out the sun. It had the yellow eyes of a demon and arms like giant serpents! I had heard stories of such beasts during my decades at sea; I count myself lucky to have never encountered it out in open waters; that monster coulda picked up a galleon and swallowed it whole!”
“Surely you don’t mean… a ‘Kraken’?” Radais asked in disbelief. He has also read stories about such monsters, and he had even seen a few medical texts describing their supposed anatomy, but he had no idea they were this far in the land of man. Father said they were yummy snacks.
The Elderman nodded. “Aye, that be the beast’s name. And it was a Kraken as surely as I stand here. Rumours had it that Red Mane was a ‘Sea Speaker’, a caster able to command creatures of the sea… but in all my many years, I’ve never heard of anyone commanding a monster such as that.”
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“So… a Kraken, an actual Kraken, did this to your town?” Radais turned and looked over the devastation of the port city in disbelief.
“Aye, that it did. We had been prepared to fight Red Mane and his ilk; this wasn’t even the first time we had crossed blades, but the moment that monster rose up, all of the city's defenders ran for the hills… and frankly, I couldn’t blame them for it. What mortals could hope to overcome such a foe?” The Elderman sighed as he loaded up the last of his possessions on his wagon. “Sorry, you lot had to come all the way out just to turn around and go home, but ain’t nothin’ that can be done here.”
“Wait, wait… Elderman. I believe what you say, but it doesn’t make sense. There’s no way any seaspeaker should be able to control something as powerful as a Kraken… not unless they had something to amplify their power like….” Radais gasped as the realization dawned on him. “Does Redmane have a Dragon Gemstone?”
The mention of one of the precious artefacts drew the rest of the team into the conversation.
The Elderman thought for a moment, then held up a hand extending his thumb and pointer finger to indicate something roughing an inch long. “Blood red gem, ya big? Aye… he wore one about his neck on a silver chain.”
“Do you know where we can find Redmane?” Radais asked eagerly. A Dragon Gemstone! This was a golden opportunity to take another big step forward in their ultimate goal of restoring their true dragon forms.
“I might… but surely you four aren’t planning on going after him… that’s madness! You can look around and see what his monster did to this town but a single short day ago! Plus, he also has an entire crew of some of the most dangerous pirates ever to sail the great seas.” The Elderman shook his head. He would have no part in sending any naive adventures to their doom.
“He may have a crew, but my team and I have each other, and…” Radais reached into the special pocket of his robe and took out his own Dragon Gemstone. “He is not the only one with the power of dragons on his side.”
“Hmmm… that gem looks much like the one Redmane held, except his glowed with an inner fire. Yours seems rather less so.” The Elderman noted sceptically.
Radais explained, “That is because I was forced to use it two days ago. You see… the Dragon Gemstones are wells of raw power. The wells, once depleted, need three days or so to replenish. By midnight my gem will be ready to use again, and if as you said Redmane used his gem the day before, that means it won’t be until the day after tomorrow. We have a short window of opportunity to strike before he can call his beast again. We need only be able to find him!”
The Elderman frowned thoughtfully. “Well… I have one lead for you. I can’t promise you for certain he’ll be there, but I know of a cove nearby that pirates have used for ages as a safe port. It's a few miles up the coast to the north. I know of a tunnel through the mountain that should get you there by nightfall….”