Limitless Seas, Chapter 25.

Chapter 25.

When morning came, Larson assigned his officers their work for the day. Tarley would continue his recruitment, with the understanding that this was the last day. Shada was going to make the final purchases they needed for the various ancillary items that the ship might require on their voyage. Larson was planning to take a trip to the blacksmith, not only to see if his armor was ready, but also to check on what weapons might be available for purchase, if he had no luck there, perhaps Lucian would be able to help. Nogreb would stay with the ogre to put the finishing touches on the Gull Dropping and build a couple of ship’s boats from the piles of leftover lumber that they had. There were also plans to seal up the hull with pitch. Ideally, they would use it on the exterior joints as well, but without a drydock that wasn’t possible.

With everyone assigned a task, Larson left the ship, greeting the dockyard town guards as he passed by. He had made sure the ones on duty at mealtime got a helping of whatever Gilroy had cooked up. The free meals seemed to generate some goodwill and their hands no longer strayed to their weapons when the ogre stomped by. Larson had left the ship early enough that the traffic was sparse, and as he neared her shop, the sound of Felicia hammering on something rang out.

“I was wondering when you would come back, I finished your armor up yesterday. That is why you’re coming to visit, isn’t it?” Felicia asked.

“Aye, we’re sailing with the tide tomorrow and I’d rather not do so without it. I also wanted to check on whatever weapons and armor you might have for my crew. We’ve got some good quality gear, but I’ve added a few more hands that need equipment to see them through a scrap,” Larson replied.

“First, try this on for me and see how it feels,” Felicia said, pulling a set of dark grey leather armor from a rack at the back of her shop. Larson looked at the leather, not sure what creature the rough hide came from. The armor was also covered in rings of what he initially thought was painted steel, but it felt more like stone to him. He put on the armor, finding the fit nearly perfect. If it would fit his needs as well as his body was a completely different question.

“What is this? Leather isn’t going to hold up too well underwater and are these stone rings, if so, they’ll shatter at the first blow,” Larson complained, not exactly excited over what he had purchased.

“Let me explain. The leather was crafted by a friend of mine out of dire shark hide. It’s stronger than normal leather and won’t soak up water or change shape. Those ‘stone’ rings aren’t, they’re actually wood,” Felicia said, holding up a hand to stall his incoming argument as she moved over to the forge with a short, thin tube of the stone-like material the rings of his armor was made from. She heated the material up in the forge, it sure didn’t burn like wood and instead began to glow a dull orange color.

Felicia pulled the tube from the fire and began to hammer at it, the material resisting her strikes but eventually forming into the shape she wanted, in this case a larger version of the rings attached to his armor. Quenching the material, she passed it off to Larson. It had some heft to it but was much lighter than steel or stone would have been. The halfling blacksmith handed Larson a shortsword and had him hit the ring. Placing in on the counter, Larson swung a powerful blow at the ring, the blade connecting with the material and bouncing off while leaving a divot behind.

“That stuff is called steelwood, it’s from a certain type of tree that grows in places that have been heavily infused with magic. The material doesn’t burn, and a smith can shape it like metal if they’re careful. It won’t soak up water and is nearly as strong as steel. What you have now is essentially a ring mail armor that’s perfect for your needs. The shark skin is a bit more expensive than normal leather, but not prohibitively so. As far as the steelwood, it’s fairly plentiful and there aren’t too many smiths that work with it, so I was able to gather a supply for a reasonable cost,” Felicia said.

It was perfect, exactly what he needed. The only problem now was the cost. Sure, the halfling had mentioned the materials weren’t too crazy to acquire, but there was no way it was going to be as cheap as more conventional armor. Larson needed every coin he had, but there was something he had almost forgotten about that could be enough to cover what he needed.

“This is perfect, what do I owe you over and above the deposit I left?” Larson asked. The smith stood there thinking for a moment before she replied.

“Just like my previous offer, pay what you think it’s worth. I just ask you direct any business you can in my direction,”

“Money’s tight after all the work I’ve had to do on my ship. Take these as at least partial payment. I’ll make sure my business partner comes to you whenever he needs some smithing done and also to purchase stock for the shop,” Larson said, passing over the pair of small red gemstones he still had from the sunken wreck. He had no idea if that was sufficient to compensate the halfling, or if he was overpaying.

“This’ll do, now you said something about needed more weapons?” Felicia asked. They began negotiating for the rest of the weapons and gear he would need, finally coming to an agreement after a bit of hard bargaining. Felicia didn’t have that much to choose from in stock, but could provide him with a dozen spears, a half dozen shortswords, a pair of crossbows, and a couple of boarding pikes. In addition, she was able to provide another half dozen leather jerkins for his medium sized crew, and three that were halfling sized. Four more small wooden shields rounded out his purchases. Not all his crew would have armor, but they would all have a well-crafted weapon to use.

Larson made a final stop to check in on the shop Lucian was putting together. The location wasn’t a bad one, and he stopped for a while, enjoying an ale at the inn across the road from the store, watching the foot traffic. A pair of customers entered during that time, one of which left carrying several purchases she had made. Paying his tab, Larson headed to the shop, the bell over the door giving a friendly ring as he entered.

“Captain Larson, how are you?” Kipper asked as Larson entered, the young man pausing from stocking shelves to greet him.

“Good, Kipper, it looks like you’re fitting in nicely to your new job,” Larson said.

“Aye, sir, it’s not the most exciting job, but I do without some excitement when it means a steady wage,” the young man told him.

“Larson, what brings you here?” Lucian asked, entering from the back of the shop.

“I wanted to let you know we’re leaving with the morning tide and I wanted to make sure you’re going to be okay while we’re out at sea,” Larson asked.

“We’ll be fine, the guard patrols keep a sharp eye on things here, unlike my old neighborhood. Business has been steady and I’m throwing anything we make over and above our rent and wages back into new inventory,” Lucian advised. It was good to see the shop was supporting itself, but he wanted to see it not just support itself, but also begin making him some serious coin. He needed to be patient, it took time to build a new business.

“Keep at it, I hope to have more inventory for you when I return. In the meantime, if you need any smithing work done or some inventory of that nature, make sure you Felicia Burrowton if at all possible, she’s done right by me so far,” Larson advised.

“Sounds good, sir, just stay safe out there,” Lucian told him as Larson left.

Larson took his time on the way back to the ship, stopping for a meal of fish and chips at a small stand near the harbor. The place had been busy, which was always a good sign that the food was fresh. He sat at the small counter of the open food stall and watched the harbor, enjoying a bit of time to himself. Watching the ships moving in and out of port was soothing, the sea had always been important to him, both in his old life and in this new one.

He tried to remember anything of his previous life, but other than the knowledge pertinent to being a ship’s captain, his past was a blank. Larson could tell more was there, his personality didn’t change, as far as he knew. His morals, honor, and determination were also carryovers from his other life. But the little things were missing, things that he wished he could remember. Had he been a married? Did he have any children? Did anyone miss him in the other world now that he was gone?

The answers didn’t come to him, despite sitting and thinking on them for several hours. Ships moved into the harbor, and others moved out, none of them brought the answers he sought. A few more things had carried over than he had first thought, simple things like the taste of the sea on the air and the ocean breeze blowing past him was the same here as it was in his old world. People were the same as well, no matter the race they hailed from. Orc, elf, halfling, human, naga, or ogre, they were people and not all that much different from the humans of his old life. People here were capable of the same evil, the same good, and all were faced with the same moral choices no matter the world they strode or slithered upon.

Where did that leave him? He had chosen a hard path and could even now change his mind and go for a simple life if he wanted, perhaps working the store with Lucian. No, that wasn’t who he was, Larson was driven, he had a unquenchable need to face down adversity and conquer it. A lust for battle flowed in his blood now, and he would take up the mantle of a privateer and live that life to the fullest. He was on a path of conflict, which would likely result in his new life ending sooner than he would like. What happened next? Was there yet another world waiting for him after this one? Would he remember any of this life when he passed on to the next?

He wouldn’t figure out the answers sitting at a fish and chips shop, so Larson left a nice tip for the patient shopkeeper and retuned to his destiny, returned to the Gull Dropping. The ship sitting in the harbor no longer resembled the awkward vessel that he had fought so hard for control of. His ship was now something different, the deck and crenelated railing made the vessel look predatory. Completing the ferocious look was a pair of eyes that had been freshly painted on the front hull. Larson remembered that in his old world people had painted them on their ships for various reasons, whether it was for good luck, to please the gods, or to intimidate their foes. These eyes were completely in the latter category, instead of a normal eye, these were reptilian. His ship was a viper, ready to strike, it waited only his command to launch itself at a foe.

“Welcome back, Captain Larson, we’ve gotten everything nearly completed while you were gone,” Nogreb told him as he boarded. Indeed, the ship looked squared away, the crew working on fine details or cleaning up the mess that had resulted form all the new construction.

“Quit circling around the mukok Nogreb, tell the captain what we’ve done,” Ibn said as the other officers gathered around.

“Fine, fine, follow me captain, it might be best if we took the ship’s boat,” Nogreb said, leading him over to the recently completed ships boat.

The freshly constructed ship’s boat was large enough to hold twelve crew and was stored on davits over the port side. A similar boat was in the middle of construction on the starboard side. The boat swung out and was lowered by the crew. Nogreb and Ibn grabbed the oars and rowed the boat behind the Gull Dropping, only now it looked like it was no longer called the Gull Dropping. In dark green letters outlined in gold, the name Sea Venomwas written over the aft of his ship. Larson sat silently in the boat, looking at the name, it fit their newly renovated ship.

“It’s…” He paused, watching the officer’s eye him nervously.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s perfect. Three cheers for the Sea Venom!” Larson shouted to the assembled crew who had gathered aft to look at his reaction.

“Sea Venom!”

“Sea Venom!”

“Sea Venom!”

The crew loudly cheered, gathering the attention of everyone on the dock. They rowed back to the newly rechristened ship, the crew pulling them aboard. Larson had their undivided attention, a moment he wasn’t going to let go to waste.

“The Gull Dropping is dead, no longer will it’s sordid past follow us. The Sea Venom is born in its stead. The reputation of this new ship is up to you. Will you serve her with skill and daring? Will you serve her not only for yourselves, but also for the man or woman next to you? Will you serve her with violent action when needed? I ask you men and women of my crew; will you make this a vessel worth of its name?” Larson shouted to the crew.

“Yes!” The crew, his crew shouted. There was no hesitation in them, it didn’t matter that they were new and didn’t know each other well. Larson could sense that they, like himself, wanted a new start. They would build something great here, starting with this one ship. They would build something new and cleave a bloody path through anyone who got in their way.