A few of the sled dogs followed Roth as he walked back out to the street and began exploring further. He couldn’t hear any noise around the front of Hendrick's house, and with how much noise the dogs had made when they first saw him, Roth guessed that the man likely wasn’t present.
The three run-down houses all looked devoid of inhabitants, as did the other two maintained ones. Those ones at least looked used, though. There were still footprints on the dirt road leading up to the houses, though Roth couldn’t tell how old they were.
At the end of the road, there was a small pathway leading off into the woods. It slimmed the further away it got, until it looked more like a deer trail than a human walking path.
“I guess this is all there is here, then.”
Roth walked back in front of the other two maintained houses and paused to examine them. Both looked to be residences, and neither had shop signs posted at their entrances. It was generally quite clean around the town, and even here was no exception. There were no weeds or brushes allowed to grow in front of the house, and all of the grass lining the roads in front of the actively used houses had been cut short.
Roth’s feet brushed over the browning grass as he peeked around the sides of the houses, and he was even daring enough to try sneaking a peak in through one of the windows.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t see past the rafters and animal skins hung from the opening to keep the cold out.
He eventually gave up, retracing his steps back to the docks, then skipping past the three larger streets and heading for the town’s other side.
It really was quite a small town for it being a port, only having five roads in total- and two of them weren’t even fully built up.
Roth could already see Cundy and Holl standing in the center of the road, and he walked over to them right away.
“Kid, you talk to Leon Northrup already?”
Roth nodded, and Holl continued speaking.
“He had a chat with Cundy too, and he already filled me in.”
Holl looked down toward the docks.
“That boat they sent to Losten should be returning in a few hours. It’s just a small fishing boat, barely seaworthy.”
Holl flipped one of the coins given to him by Wilson as he gazed out at the ocean.
“Everything they are doing here in town seems to be focused on preparing for the winter, even more so than usual, according to that married dude. I couldn’t squeeze info on the ship’s goods from anyone.”
Holl’s gaze refixed on Roth.
“Except that the ship is bringing ‘A sacrifice for Enthenglen.’”
Holl spoke with a dark, foreboding tone. If the Northrups' baby was considered a sacrifice, Roth wasn’t sure he wanted to know what would be on that boat.
Would it just be packed full of infants, stolen from the mothers of Losten Island?
“I don’t want to start an open conflict, but we need to check what’s on that ship. The plan right now is to monitor where they bring the goods and try to sneak a peek while they move them.”
Roth nodded, and Holl’s voice suddenly lightened.
“There is some good news as well.”
Holl suddenly raised his hand and waved it beckoning over a townsfolk who was walking over from the docks.
“This guy is going to show us our next big purchase.”
Roth could already predict what it was going to be, even before the townsman led them over to a large wooden shed a dozen meters back from the waterside.
Inside, there was a boat. It looked older and of lower quality than the Algo that Wilson captained, but it was still more than what Roth would expect a tiny town like this to have. The hull was in good shape, and looked to be reinforced near the front.
There were spots for three large masts, but they had been taken down and collapsed for storage. Lines of rigging lay in random heaps over the wooden deck of the ship, but none of the lines overlapped.
“The First Light.”
The townsman swept his arms as he showed the group the ship.
“Originally designed by Catal to map out the waters on the northern part of the coast. That…”
The townsman coughed lightly into his shoulder.
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“That’s about all we know about its history. This boat is a good omen. Shortly after it drifted to our shores four years ago, we were blessed by our Lord Enthenglen.”
“This boat brought this religion here?”
The townsman paused for a moment before shaking his head.
“It brought the first word of the religion here, but I believe we would’ve found salvation regardless.”
So that’s a yes. Four years, and everyone on the island, save for a few people, is dedicated to this Lord. From what Wilson and Leon said, the corruption has only been getting faster recently.
“Were there people on the boat when it washed up?”
The townsman opened his mouth, but no sound came out. After a few moments of silence, he moved on as if he’d answered the question.
“Before you said that your crew had a cartographer, correct? That’s the most dangerous job there is, I’m impressed by your bravery. Our Lord is quite fond of pioneers such as yourselves. While I can’t sell this boat to you, the Lord may grant it to you without cost.”
Seeing that Holl was still internally debating the townsman’s words about the boat’s origin, and that Roth was shivering behind him, Cundy stepped forward to talk to the northerner. After a few minutes, the crew left the boat shed and left the townsman behind.
Cartography is the most dangerous job? If I find a peaceful little island to settle down on, how could it be? Lia mentioned the danger of going outside the marked sea routes, but as long as I avoid doing that, I’ll be fine, right?
-
-
The crew headed back to their cabin to consolidate their information and plans.
1- Investigate the incoming shipment.
2- Converse with the two Regarded hunters, and try to find and talk to Hendricks, who likely also had a Regard.
3- Find out more about ‘First Light’ and if it had crewmates. If it did, and they were still in the town, it might be simple to discover who it was spreading this cultist religion.
-
It was a bit of a short list, but the crew decided to leave it at that for the time being. Focusing on just a few details was most likely to yield great rewards, instead of splitting their efforts too thinly and missing something important.
Holl headed back out to the docks to speak with any townsfolk who might be knowledgeable on the third point- and to watch for the inbound ship- while Cundy and Roth stayed inside and warmed up in front of their wood stove.
“Cundy, you always said that you don’t believe in spirits or ghosts, right? What about now?”
Holl glanced over at his seasoned crewmate.
“Yeah. If you keep going out on voyages, you’ll see some things that make you think. I’ve spent most of my time on the waves with Thomas- Holl, as you know him- so I’ve had to look for more logical explanations for stuff.”
“What do you mean?”
Cundy let out a sigh as he leaned into the heat of the stove.
“If he hasn’t told you the full story yet, I’ll stay quiet about it for now.”
The room was quiet for a few moments before Cundy spoke again.
“What we’re seeing now, this definitely isn’t something I can explain anymore. What I will say is that there probably is no better person to be in this situation with. Even if Thomas seems selfish, he always keeps his friends in mind, too.”
Cundy looked down at his boots, a saddened expression on his face.
“This whole ordeal… it seems like it’s only made him more set on chasing after ghosts.”
There was a sudden heavy knock on the door, prematurely ending their conversation. Holl was at the door, an annoyed expression on his face.
“This damn town doesn’t have anything better to do with its time. Peh.”
Roth and Cundy frowned in confusion at the captain’s words, but when they followed him outside, they could see why he was annoyed.
The ship that their group planned to investigate was arriving at the docks, and there were more than a few people there to greet it. Of the fifty buildings in town, ten were currently uninhabited. Twenty-five of the remaining ones served as living spaces, and as the crew could see now, clearly housed more than one person each.
A crowd of nearly thirty people was gathered around the docks, eliminating any plans Holl had of snooping on the goods.
Knowing that there were at least another fifteen people still out hunting or attending to their jobs, the crew was finally able to get a decent grasp on the total number of occupants of the town.
The number was smaller than they expected, but it was still too many for them to just do as they wished.
None of the townsfolk seemed to react as the crewmates squeezed past them, trying to get into a position to see what goods the crew was bringing in. Roth found himself next to Leon and his wife, and he gave the other young man a covert nod.
The small fishing vessel arrived at the pier, and a few townsfolk immediately hopped aboard and started helping unload. As it turned out, the crew didn’t need to worry about catching a view of what the goods were. They were carried plainly out in the open.
Glass jars.
There were jars of varying sizes and designs. Some had glass that was clearer than others, while others were so murky that Roth couldn’t even begin to see inside.
For the more clear ones, though, they just caused Roth more confusion.
They looked to be filled with some kind of thick gray mist. It turned and boiled within the jars, constantly moving. The golden mark on Roth’s back tingled as he viewed the mist, and a sudden pang resembling hunger rose up from it.
He had an instinctual feeling that he could consume whatever the mist in those jars was and that it would be good for him.
The folks unloading the ship grabbed onto a few free jars, holding them up to show off to the townsfolk, and a chant started to grow.
“Praise Lord Enthenglem!”
A large chest was lifted out of the boat, presumably filled with similar jars. The crowd bunched tightly together around it as it was carried by, and Roth quickly lost sight of where it was.
Everyone stayed packed together as the crowd headed toward the center of town, still chanting praises to the Lord.
As soon as they reached the center of town, though, everyone began to disperse. The chest was nowhere to be seen.
Did they sneak it away somewhere? How? It was definitely in the crowd when it started moving…
Roth looked up to see both Holl and Cundy looking similarly lost. All three of them had been in different spots in the crowd, but none of them had seen where the chest ended up.