Chapter 29

Orion

Day 17 of Landing

Population of Thornhill - 45

My morning routine consisted of brewing some dried firecracker berries in a clay pot of boiling water. The taste of the berry tea was flowery with notes of cherry, but I was more interested in the energy boost it provided.

Firecracker Berry Tea - D

Increases alertness and energy for 2 hours

While the tea boiled, I chewed on a piece of reed to brush my teeth, using charcoal as a quasi-toothpaste and spitting it out before sipping it. Then I would go to the river to wash up and shave with my knife.

Sophie showed up bright and early to accompany me as I searched for elk. I was looking for prospects for Astrid’s mount project. In the forest, the spring's newborn elk calves were nursing from their mothers. They would start weaning soon, and I planned to capture some of the young ones for Astrid to tame.

Moving in the shadows of the trees, I approached the grazing herd, using my Stealth card to get within suitable distance of an old bull. An activated Deadly Shot would land on the stunned elk’s neck, the rest of the herd dispersing, before I moved in to finish it, dress it, and store it in Sophie’s cart.

My friend, the dark blue jackdaw—JD, as I liked to call it—watched me while I worked. I reached into my bag to tear off a piece of smoked boar jerky. It flew with a shiny rock in its claws that it tossed toward me before grabbing the jerky and flying off. I examined the rock to notice a small gemstone embedded in it before I pocketed it.

The mood was somber as we walked back. Sophie and I left a thick silence between us; I didn’t want to think about or remember what happened yesterday. I marched ahead of her, pulling her portable wagon.

“Still blue about yesterday, Orion?” Sophie asked, a bit too cheerfully after all the deaths we witnessed yesterday.

“A lot of people died,” I responded in a low voice. I was too drained to get angry at her teasing.

“None you really cared about. Plus, now that the Captain is gone, you should be happy.” Sophie poked me on the cheek.

“I cared about Clark. I may have disagreed with the Captain, but I never wanted him dead,” I said bitterly.

“It’s not your fault,” Sophie spoke in a soft, serious voice. “If you work like this, you’ll just get sick again.”

“I just have to get stronger,” I replied in a tone that ended the discussion.

After butchering the elk, we sent the hide to Anika, who was in charge of tanning hides and leather. The sinew, gutstring, and hooves were sent to Ethan for processing. The new cooks would handle the meat. It seemed there were two cooks now—Gladys and a new woman I hadn’t introduced myself to yet. She was a lady in her twenties who looked like one of the business-class fliers.

I seared a small elk steak for myself to check the buff it contained.

Seared Elk Steak - D

Journey of the Elk -

Stamina and endurance decrease at a slower rate - 2 hours

Alex and I had a mission today, and after we both ate elk steaks, we headed towards the beach. Alex had convinced me to bring along Sasha, and I agreed, knowing we probably needed four rowers.

All of us had brand-new loot: new leather armor, new bags, new waterskins, and new weapons, thanks to the spoils from the dead pirates. I had my stiletto, and Sasha now had a crossbow. We rounded out our party with one more person to make it even—Aiden, a high school graduate who was taking a year off before college and now dreamed of becoming a dungeon diver. I wanted to ask Cade, but he had to guard our new frog pirate captive.

The beach was now clear of dead bodies. We had tied the rowboats the pirates left us to stakes we planted in the sand; eventually, I figured we would have to build a dock. The four of us got into the sturdier-looking rowboat and started rowing towards the sloop in the distance. At the edge of the beach, I could barely eclipse it with my thumb. Alex’s strength showed its worth, and in no time, our rowboat was right next to the pirate ship.

On the ship, we searched for loot. With our weapons out and our guard up, we cleared the deck and checked each quarter, watching each other’s backs. They had bags of grain, empty save for a few kernels. Barrels that once held wine and rum were now empty, leaving only their acidic smell and color in the wood. Boxes of used plates all smelled of rotted food. In the captain’s quarters, old books had been burned for firewood.

It looked like these pirates had stolen this ship from a trader or another seafarer, as they had no use for most of the things here outside of gold. One item of interest did catch my eye. On the captain’s main desk was a map, a sextant, and a small compass. I collected each into my bag and rolled the map up after examining it.

The map showed a shoreline with a few coastal ports and villages. It wasn't large in scope, as it cut off near the top where the landmass extended off the edge. I wasn't sure where we were on the map exactly, but several possible shorelines near rivers resembling our Turtle River, as we had called it, stood out. It was also possible that we weren't on the map at all.

“Rion... you might want to see this!” Alex yelled from the lower decks.

In the lower holds of the small ship, I held my nose. The stench was unbearable, and I was immediately stunned by what I saw.

Three men with the heads of moles were chained up in manacles. The men were hominids in stature, though at their tallest, they were maybe five feet. Their faces were furry in colors from dark brown to light gray with long pink snouts. They were long dead, probably from dehydration, if I had to guess.

“Were they... slaves?” Sasha asked, eyes widened.

“From these manacles, it looks like those pirates were planning to add more inventory,” I observed. “They must have gotten stuck at sea with no food or water, and the pirates stopped feeding them.”

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“What should we do?” Alex asked.

“We should free them and dump their bodies,” I said, I collected a key from a nearby desk and removed the manacles. I would need them later.

“What? You mean at sea? That’s kind of harsh,” Sasha rebuked.

“One day we are going to use this ship. We don’t want to spread disease. Dump the bodies.” I unlocked the manacles. As the molemen were naked, there was nothing on them before we tossed their bodies aside.

Back on the top deck, we examined the sails and helm. Aiden raced to the helm and said, “My dad owns a yacht. I think we can steer this thing back to land. Adjust those sails, ye hearties!”

Despite Aiden’s attempt to get the ship back to shore, the rest of us knew nothing about sailing. Aiden told us that eventually, the currents would push the ship back to shore.

We continued searching the rest of the floors for other loot. I was startled to find some dead pirates in some cabins, lying long dead in their hammocks, but we tossed them overboard with the mole prisoners.

In the kitchens, I found my personal gold mine. I picked up a copper wok and a cast iron Dutch oven and readied them to be put on the rowboat to be brought back. There was also a cabinet of spices including a pepper grinder, nearly empty, and a glass bottle of a round seed that smelled fragrant like cinnamon.

The most important loot we found was the gillnets. These could catch a massive load of fish that could feed our growing population. Herman and Clark would be...

I sighed when I remembered.

Herman would need new helpers.

We left the ship, for now, carrying what loot we could back to shore. We had more ropes now, good-quality ones. More bags, a few empty barrels, some empty glass bottles, and stuff that would be considered garbage to others were treasures to us. There was also an anvil on the ship, among other smithing equipment, from the ship’s blacksmith and carpenter’s workshop, but we would come for those later when we eventually set up our forge.

We rowed back to shore with our new goods. If there was a silver lining to this horrible pirate attack, it was these new items, which would unlock so many new possibilities for us.

After depositing the new loot in our stockpile and catching some food, I delivered the map I found on the pirate ship to James, our Brit translator and the newest recipient of a class: Diplomat.

James had been tasked with learning the language of the frog pirate captive and interrogating him. He had also unlocked a new class, Diplomat. His legendary skill allowed him to learn new languages faster. From what I saw, he would collect new words in different languages in cards and store them in a Dictionary card.

That, along with his innate ability to learn languages, made him a perfect candidate to bridge the gap between us and the natives of this world.

Still, it would take some time for James to set up a dialog with our captive. The naked green frogman was chained to a tree. His wrists were raw and red from trying to struggle out of his rope bindings. At knifepoint, I slipped the newly looted manacles on the ship on him, tying a length of chain around the tree trunk.

James examined the map curiously.

“Get him to show us where we are on the map,” I said.

“Will do, boss sir. I will get him singing like a bird, don’t you fret,” James said, the words sounding amused in his British accent.

“Anything you found out today?” I asked.

“His name is Rakjak or something like that. I’m probably butchering it. Other than that, mostly gibberish at this point. I think he’s mostly pleading or trying to make a deal rather than answering questions. Makes learning his language rather difficult, even with my new class,” James said, rolling up the map.

“Have you tried waterboarding him or maybe peeling off his skin?” I asked.

“I am a diplomat, not a torturer,” James scoffed, offended at the idea.

“I don’t like him being around. The sooner we get answers out of him, the sooner we can dispatch him. He’s already scheming how to get out of his chains and slit our throats in our sleep.” I glared at the creature. He and his friends exacted a large toll on this village, and I wanted to run my knife across his gut.

“Calm down. Think of the benefits here, my boy,” James said with calm assurance. “The more I learn about his language, the better I can interact with future outsiders. We can probably talk or negotiate our way out of trouble rather than resort to your knife. But for that, I need a thorough knowledge of their tongue. Otherwise, we will seem like savages to them.”

He was right, of course. Still, I didn’t feel safe with this thing around.

“There’s one other thing I want you to ask him. Ask him... who are the most powerful people in this world? Which kingdoms and rulers?” I added.

“No doubt, as this village’s official diplomat, it is my duty to understand the complex geopolitical situation of our neighbors and nations abroad,” James beamed.

“You realize after this is done, you’ll still have to do regular farm work, right?” I said, to which James sighed.

With my main tasks done, I went to see Cass. It was easy to track him down, as he usually practiced his slinging in a nearby clearing near the beach shelter. Marek and Slate were making renovations to the beach shelter to add a second floor for more bed space. They wouldn’t create a whole new level, just a ledge in the current shelter, cramming people even tighter as they wanted to start new projects like our warehouse.

Cass’s new sling had a leather pocket, a new addition. His Crafting skill must have improved. No doubt he had looted some leather from the pirates. Instead of his old obsidian knife, he was carrying one of my old copper ones. I watched my younger brother practice his slinging, the rocks he threw slamming into a rock boulder with a force that caused chips of stone to fly off each time they hit. My brother had always been short for his age, but now it seemed, in the last weeks, he was hitting a growth spurt as if he was willing his body to grow up.

“I can’t get past level 2 in Sling,” Cass said.

I looked around to see if anyone could hear us, but there was nobody.

“You probably need to use it against real enemies. Try hunting something with it,” I said, to which he nodded. “Just stay away from boars or elk. Maybe practice on a rabbit.”

“What did you find on the ship?” Cass asked, tucking his sling away, curious.

“A map. Some new pans I can use. Empty barrels. Slaves or captives,” I sat down on the grass, exhausted.

“How big is it? The world?” Cass looked excited to find out.

“Big. So big that there are many areas like ours without even a village nearby.” I ran my hands through my hair, letting the ocean breeze wash through me.

“So... what is the council going to do next?”

“Bianca will announce our next plans at the next town meeting.”

“What about you?”

“I’m planning to go into the dungeon. I won’t be in charge of food anymore,” I said. “Gladys will take over. She’ll get more help. Then we have to find a Hunter class and assign more helpers to Herman. We have rowboats now and gillnets; we can reel in a whole bunch of fish.”

As if the boy knew the answer, he nodded. “I can come along and help you in the dungeon. You won’t have to fear anything magical down there.”

“Not yet, and not with anyone other than just me. Alex and Sasha are coming along, so I can’t have them know your secret.” Disappointment was on his face as I explained the situation.

“Why do you think I got it? My class, that is?” Cass asked. “I think I’m supposed to help you.”

“No, your class is unique. I’m just a cook. Cass, I know I sound like I’m being too careful, but your class is important. I just have a sense we can’t show any of our cards yet to anyone outside. Not until this village is ready to fully defend itself. Until we can make gunpowder and bombs. You have a responsibility right now, you understand?”

The determination in his eyes made me sick. He really thought of himself as some hero, and maybe that’s what the void had intended with him. I don’t know when I started giving in to the void as some omnipotent force, but it controlled our fates here. Thornhill was given an ace, and we had to hide it from the other players of this world before we went all in.

“Level up and get stronger safely, then you can show yourself,” I said.

“I’ll be ready, Rye,” Cass said with resolve.