History has been a great interest to Myers ever since he’d first walked into the orphanage library. A small library, yes, but one that’s near and dear to his heart. So, walking through a royal library filled to the brim with knowledge of ages past gives him great excitement. Immediately, the old man rights an old chair and table, grabs a stack of books, and begins reading.

Not the entire book, but the gist of it so as to decipher its worth. For the next several hours, numerous books and scrolls cross his eyes. Most are thrown into a pile of little worth. Not all, for a few are found worthy. Most especially is a book called Choris, the Kingdom under the Aurora.

Just as he finishes skimming the book, the sound of footsteps reach his ears.

“They’ve returned,” He whispers. He grabs what he’d found and moves to stand. Only to pause when he notices that the light outside the library is far too strong and stable to be coming from a lantern.

Wary of what he might be dealing with, Myers places the books on the table and then firmly grabs his cane in one hand and the torch in the other.

Waiting quietly, the sound of steps grows louder and louder until the light is streaming through the passageway.

“Grandpa, look what I have!” Clay rushes into the library.

Blinking, Myers sees Clay holding a glowing shortsword in both hands.

Not a moment later and the rest of the group files into the library. When Nepenthes slithers inside, he can’t help but stare at the several chests strapped across her body.

“I’m guessing you found treasure,” he says.

“More like treasure chests,” Quasi grumbles. “I was hoping for better shit, but it’s all gone. Anyways, find anything?”

Myers nods. “I did. This castle if from the Choris kingdom, which presumably fell over three thousand years ago. The kingdom was formed under a [King] named Abenize Orelize. The man was a Grandmaster [Mage] and was known as the Aurora’s Call.”

Quasi pouts. “Let me guess. The guy had a Legendary staff called the Roaring Aurora.”

The old man frowns. “He didn’t have the staff. His body was used to create the staff for his descendents to use. How did you come up on the name?”

“Valentine’s Phytonid mage was holding it.”

Myers grabs the book Choris, the Kingdom under the Aurora and opens up to a page. “Abenize is described to be capable of creating Aurora’s that only affected his enemies. If the staff can mimic even a portion of his power, I daresay Valentine has just gotten significantly more dangerous.”

Quasi hops up to the table and glances at the book. “Right. Super Pirate is now more badass because he can create Aurora’s. Speaking of which, what makes creating an Aurora so dangerous? Isn’t it just sparkly lights?”

Myers clears his throat. “When an Aurora is present, external mana is extremely strained. Casting spells cost several times more to both create and sustain. All but the most highest level of [Mages] would be utterly useless after one or two spells. Abenize was a mage who countered armies of mages with a single spell.”

“Ahhhh.” Quasi nods. “Yea, that sounds bad.I’m going to have to figure out how to counter Aurora’s in the distant future if I’m to kill him.”

Myers frowns slightly at the declaration. He then closes the book and unfolds a scroll. “We actually have that solution.” The scroll is placed on the desk right next to where Quasi is sitting.

Looking at the scroll, a rune is inscribed in the center.

“This is a rune of Aurora Shielding. Applying this to an item will lessen the effect of an aurora. If we notify the Mercenary Guild, or even the Merchant Guild of Valentine’s new staff, then I imagine they would buy this scroll for a very large premium.”

Quasi scratches the table with a claw. “Why is this scroll even here? Shouldn’t it be in a vault somewhere? I mean, if it’s here for any [Noble] to peruse, then it’s clearly common knowledge.”

“Common at the time.” Myers adds. “Many runes and spells have been lost over the centuries. Knowledge of such a rune can be one of them.”

Quasi shrugs. “Well, let’s hope it is lost.” He hops off the table. “Anyway, we’ve checked what we can throughout the tower. Let's head back to the ship and unload our treasure.”

_____________________________________________________________

A buckler rises up in defense, only for Boriss’s blade to slice clean through Metal, flesh, and finally bone. The man screams in both pain and surprise, that quickly goes silent as his followup strike severs the man's skull.

Normally, Boriss would aim for the neck for a killing blow, but the Shamshir of Slicing is sharp enough to easily deal with bone.

Pivoting left, he sidesteps a warhammer. As the man misses, He takes the opportunity to cut both of the man's arms off, followed by decapitating the man by the waist. With another dead, Boriss turns towards the last [Pirate], only to see Irmgard slice open the man's belly and then kick him away as the organs fall out.

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Like him, she turns around, looking for more threats within the Timbergrove. Both are silent as they look, listening for any sounds of footsteps.

“The deck.” She says.

Both rush up the stairs and then out of the Timbergrove. Rain and wind buffet the ship with the cacophony of lightning and the boom of distant cannons. On the deck, over a dozen [Pirates] fight to death, with even more already staining the floor red with their blood. Nearby, five [Pirate] ships are docked. One destroyer, three frigates, and a single corvette is what they notice.

Farther away from the island, several dozen more [Pirate] vessels are engaged in combat. Cannons boom constantly, followed by explosions as metal balls slap wooden flesh.

An army of [Pirates] now surround the island, and the only saving grace is that they aren't allied.

“Vhy are they here?” Boriss asks, aghast.

Irmgard tisks. “Valentine must have informed the [Pirates].”

“Is not nice.”

“I don’t believe [Pirates] generally are.” She looks at the battle ongoing on the deck. “We should thin their numbers and keep them from getting inside the ship until the [Captain] returns.”

He nods. “Da, is good plan.” Cracking his neck, he starts to walk towards the fighting.

Irmgard quickly grabs the Russian by his coat. “There are five ships, and all of them have different pirate flags. This means that there are five groups of [Pirates] fighting. Let the [Pirates] fight and only target the winning groups to keep the numbers even.”

Boriss pouts like a puppy having a treat dangled out of his reach. Thankfully, Boriss is a trained puppy.

“Is boring plan, but is smart.” He kneels back down and lowers his weapon. Then he waits as instructed.

____________________________________________________________

The plan was to go inside the castle, grab the treasure, and then happily and easily transport the treasure back to the Timbergrove. The only expected problem that may be run into is the weather. Myers warned that the weather would be windy and rainy.

So, when Quasi exits the castle to be greeted by rain and wind, his smile stays firmly on his face.

Then he notices the [Pirates] fighting aboard his ship and the dozens more swarming the island like flies.

“I’m going to fucking murder Valentine,” he curses. “The bastard must have revealed the location of this castle to every fucking [Pirate] in the area.”

“What are [Pirates]?” Nepenthes asks.

“Enemies, thieves, and a massive pain in my butt,” Quasi explains. “We’re going to have to rush to our ship while fighting them off, though it looks like all of them are near my ship.”

“Prey,” Nepenthes growls excitedly. “Should I-”

“Hell no,” Quasi interrupts. “Do not drop our treasure unless you’re dropping it on my ship.”

“My combat ability is heavily restricted while I carry this.”

“Your combat ability won’t be needed. I’ve got a plan, but first.” Quasi glances at the child. “Clay, get inside one of the chests. The rest of you are going to ride on Nepenthes' back.”

“O-okay.” Myers opens up one of the chests and Clay crawls inside.

With the chest closed except for an inch to allow the child to breath, Quasi strides up a nearby rock to take a better look of the terrain. He extends a paw. “You all should be able to sneak up behind that stone without being seen. Once you’re behind it, I’m going to distract the [Pirates].

Quasi looks at the several thousand pound Phytonid. “Nepenthes, the moment you hear me roar, you will rush to Timbergroves stern- that's the back of the ship.” Quasi shifts his paw. “There’s an elevated stone that you can climb to get aboard the ship. Once you’re on the ship, you can lay the throne down and join the fighting after your passengers cut the ropes.”

“I will be slowed greatly with such additional weight. If my presence is noticed, I cannot outpace you humans.”

Quasi chuckles and grins. “Don’t worry, they aren’t even going to glance in your direction.” Quasi waves a paw. “Now, go. Wait for my signal. Myers, take charge when you’re on the ship.”

In a cloud of smoke, Cat Quasi disappears and is replaced by a one-eyed bird. The bird chirps once and then takes flight towards the pirates.

_______________________________________________________________

With cutlass dripping blood and her coat now thoroughly wrinkled, Irmgard takes a moment to retreat from the fighting to reassess the situation and regain some stamina. To her, it feels like she’d been fighting for hours, when in actuality it is more along the line of minutes. When she glances at Boriss, the big oaf shows no sign of exhaustion even as he swings his massive sword through [Pirates] like butter. In the time it took her to kill four, he’d already exceeded ten.

Even so, the fighting has only gotten heavier and more [Pirates] have joined the fighting.

She leans over a railing and glances at the several dozen more fighting near the midship. More specifically, they are fighting where the Plank to board the Timbergrove is located. If she could somehow remove the plank, then the tide of [Pirates] can be slowed. Without the plank, the [Pirates] would be forced to bring their own plank or risk climbing the Timbergroves hull.

As she continues staring, a bird appears a foot in front of her face.

“Quasi?”

The bird chirps once, and then it descends near the bow-side of the Timbergrove, directly towards three pirates.

Upon arrival, the bird disappears and Quasi returns to his Fenrimorph form. Screams of surprise echo the men moments before Quasi kills two of them. One by clawing out his throat, and the other by crushing his skull. For the third, his hands extend claws that rip in the man's upper chest and scrotum.

With the man screaming, Quasi lifts him over his head. His mouth opens, chest extends, and the rain, the storm, and all the fighting is drowned out by the loudest, most animalistic roar she’d ever heard. So loud is the roar, that most of the [Pirates] cease fighting and turn to Quasi.

With nearly every eye on him, Quasi rips the screaming man in two, showering himself in the man's organs and blood in the most horrific and gruesome scene she had ever seen.

Without breaking a beat, Quasi lifts up the top half of the man's corpse so that the [Pirates] face is visible for all to see. Then, Quasi’s maw opens and bites into the man's neck, ripping the flesh off until blood drips between teeth.

Knowing that Quasi isn’t this violent normally, she immediately infers that he’s creating a distraction. Looking aways, she scans the surroundings and quickly finds a very curious sight..

Without missing a beat, she rushes away from the railing. She runs to Boriss, pulls him away from his current fight, and then makes their way to the stern.