Seaborn

100.

100.

You have damaged an enemy ship of a higher level! You have been awarded 40,000XP.

You have caused the most damage in a significant engagement! Your reward is based on relative damage done and the average damage by your fellow combatants: +25,000 XP

I would have appreciated having more time sailing the miles of sea back to the armada to brainstorm a way of tell king Jovan how badly things had gone without making it sound like they’d all gone south b...

99. Intentions

99. Intentions

When asked to perform this escort for Antarus, I’d wondered why the Emerald wasn’t involved. I’d assumed the ship was either carrying out some other important mission or was simply too far away to make the return in the timeframe required.

So when I saw their sails on the horizon, I didn’t think too much of it. Their loyalty was to king Jovan, after all, and if they were a bit late did that really matter?

It was a rather naïve thought. All the other...

98. Route to the Future

98.

We held a funeral service the morning after our modest celebration of remaining alive. Having the opportunity to eat and drink with friends, sing songs, share stories, break down and cry in more than one case – they all did good things towards putting the fleet into a mental headspace for moving on and continuing the mission.

I and my officers were invited to attend the ceremony king Jovan was presiding over on his flagship, but respectfully declined. Each ship captain was...

97.

97.

Travelling with a larger armada det

96.

96.

In stories, when people became allies they were able to trust each other. Maybe my problem was that I wasn’t quite an ‘ally’ to Antarus and more like a ‘mercenary’ so far, and all stories portrayed them as having dubious loyalty at best.

I tried thinking of myself as the main protagonist of the story securing the alliance of Antarus … but that just didn’t work. Royalty was always center-stage.

In any case, I encountered the very awkward problem of determi...

95.

95.

The two-headed sea serpent had interrupted both the setup of the Tempest and my own operations incorporating it to my little fleet. The first problem was taken in hand by Rhistel and Jack as they saw to the proper outfitting with the supplies we had escaped with and made note of the things we’d need to replace.

The second matter required a more personal touch. I’d been able to raise Redmund; despite his limited time onboard the lad had such a connection to the s...

94. Tempest

(Name Credit to H. Scott)

Memories are different from reality.  Even cherished memories are not always how something really happened.  Nightmares are known for twisting experience.

Redmund was not how I remembered him.

For a moment I questioned whether I’d done something wrong in creating his body, but I hadn’t sculpted the form, only provided the mana for Redmund.  This was Redmund, and as my eyes took him in the pictures from my nightmares and the distor...

93. The King

93. The King

My relationship with my home country was complicated.

I was raised with all of the nationalism you’d expect a country to try and instill. My indoctrination was instigated by the mighty warships of the navy – Antarus’ navy being its main strength – since they were the most glorious thing on the waves a youth could see. My patriotic spirit was tempered by the treatment of my mother and I by the nobility – I’d carried a chip on my shoulder regarding positio...

Name Solicitation

This isn't a chapter, but go take a look at chapter 92 released just a minute ago!

***SPOLIER ALERT AHEAD!!!***

Now, I'm looking for input on a name for a certain ship ...

Or is it really a spoiler?  People have been expecting it since chapter 12 ...

So Chekhov's ship is going to FINALLY come back into play!  That's right, Domenic is going to go back to the Wind Runner!

Now, a mechanic I've used in Se...

Chapter 92

92.

“Make course 080!”

“Making course 080, aye Cap’n!”

“Onager crew, prepare to fire!”

“Onagers, standing by!”

“Signal the boats, prepare to throw!”

Arnnaith began rapidly moving his arms with the flags to pass my message to Gnar – unneeded as it likely was – and I found I had no other orders that needed to be barked just that second. The adjustments were made, and we waited while the effects were made known.

The chain trai...

91. Another Settlement Needs Your Help

Despite the headache I was certain I was in for, my mood was noticeably improved when we brought the money and started picking up our goods. The sentries opened the gate for me, but seemed more uncertain about it now with the entourage I had with me. As soon as my men were in though, it was a moot point.

Hali had put out a few fires before they developed into issues and everything was either waiting in bags or – like the yards of rope and timber – simply set aside for e...

90.

Here it is!  Tried to get it out by end of May, but guess it's 1st day of June.  Barely.  I'm going to go to bed now.

90.

When I asked for the Captain, two men stepped forward; one in a full kit of armor made from some scaled beast, the other wearing a tailored red and black uniform. My first thought was the Captain and a bodyguard, but I was proved wrong when the armored man removed his helmet and addressed me.

“I am Captain Willoughby. And you...

89. (It's a Chapter!)

89. 

“Drop sails, prepare for ascent,” I ordered, my word quickly being passed along and signaled to those on the spars awaiting that command. Normally I could raise my voice to a level clearly heard anywhere aboard except during storms, and even then my voice could fight the wind to be heard. Here, in the stillness of the darkest depths of the sea, I whispered. I whispered and not a single person asked for me to speak up.

We had company.

I suppose it was too much...

88.

New chapter!  Yay!  I'm sure nobody was wondering when I'd release this ...

88.

Lawless Jack, the chortin pirate Captain who’d taken the Wind Runner and subsequently sent me to the bottom of the ocean, stumbled and fell like a newborn lamb. He flailed for only a moment before he composed himself, bringing his hand up in front of his face.

“This,” he hissed. “This is not my body …”

I didn’t explain the magic – I wasn’t t...

87.

It's twins!  I finished the chapter and it was big enough to split in two, so if you haven't read 86 yet go check it out!

87.

There was something thrilling about storming a beach. Crouched below the surf, hearing and feeling the pounding waves so close, knowing that just out of sight was a territory that posed a danger to you, a territory you were about to claim.

I hadn’t practiced with Gnar on these before. Did it always feel this way? Or was it our shar...

86.

Author's Note: I finished the chapter, and it turned into twins!  Hope the double-chapter makes up some for my recent quietness.

86.

“Please extend my breakfast invitation to Captain Jarek.”

“He won’t like that.”

“So long as he keeps his opinions to himself, we won’t need to have a repeat of yesterday. Invite him up.”

Arnnaith scurried off to fulfill my order, but I noticed that he enlisted Tarball before going belowdecks. The sm...

85. Knockdown

“Captain, a moment of your time?” Hali said, her face popping up over the ladder to the quarterdeck.

I’d been having a private discussion with Rhistel on the nature of the role of first mate, my expectations and how I wanted to support him in fulfilling them. It was a challenging project not because Rhistel lacked the knowledge or capability so much as he did the temperament. A first mate needed to loud, boisterous. They needed to be able to give a tongue lashing or praise in fron...

Schedule Update

Unfortunately not a chapter, sorry to get your hopes up.

I wanted to apologize for the delay in content, and let you all know that you're not forgotten.    Real life has kept me swamped, and as my outline gets closer and closer to my planned epilogue I want to make sure I don't rush things (or chock chapters full of empty filler).  

I have a scheduled RR post Sunday (letting them off the cliff that was Jones' opening salvo) but with an announcement that I'll be...

84.

84.

Five casualties from Jones’ attack.  All of them had been artillerists aboard the Death’s Consort.  I felt guilty at my relief that the tally was so low, and that I’d felt relief Sadeo and Rhistel had pulled through.  My first sound defeat as a Captain I’d lost nearly half of my crew.  Since then I’d experienced the navy’s bloody arithmetic where only 5 non-professional casualties was considered a good battle.  Each of those fi...

83.

So sorry for leaving you on the cliff for so long!

83.

My jaw dropped in a moment of shock as I saw the Perdition suddenly appear and open fire. The next moment it clicked shut as I braced myself and began to prioritize.

“I want Drese on the forecastle intervening as possible! Mirash, get the volatile stuff from Mouse’s stash! Arnnaith, battle plan now. Gnar, be ready!”

Some had already been leaping into action, while my words shocked othe...

82.

“I expect to have the Death’s Consort ready to sail tomorrow.”

“So there’s no problem with me having the lads practice some fighting between the ships in the meantime!”

I sighed and rubbed my face. In front of ordinary crew signs like that were things that I tried to avoid, but in front of my lieutenants – and Gnar in particular – it seemed like a necessity to act more normally.

And Gnar really made me feel like shaking my head sometimes.

“Picture thi...

81.

Following my creation of a hierarchy aboard my ships I met with my newly appointed lieutenants and advisors to flesh it out. It was important to me that the crews of the two ships be mixed. The old hands from the Death’s Consort needed to be mixed with the fresh blood from the Final Internment. It wasn’t just about managing crew composition and morale, the Final Internment’s crew only had as much experience as I could give them in a few weeks of travel (which aboard the hulk left me les...

80.

FYI; if you didn't check out the changes to chapter 79, you really should!

80.

The Captain’s cabin was supposed to hold a kind of authority on its own, sort of like how an audience chamber would for a king. By virtue of the Captain’s authority, the place where he slept and conduced business would take on an atmosphere that rubbed off from its occupant.

I stepped into Burdette’s cabin and immediately changed my plans to have the next phase of redem...

79. Fate of the Death’s Consort (updated)

Note: with all the awesome feedback I've gotten, I've been able to flesh out this chapter better and I'm much happier with the results.  Character development will be ongoing, but I don't think this chapter feels so rushed and unfulfilled now.

Edits are made throughout the chapter, but I delineated major sections I added/changed with a set of asterisks (***) before and after the section if you wish to skim. (The pdf also reflects this.)

2022-01-06 04:49:13 +0000 UTC View Post

78.

Sorry about the unexpected delay: after 2 years of dodging the bullet I finally got COVID.  I'm getting better, and hope to have chapter 79 out to you this weekend!  

78.

You have advanced to skill level 11 in Traps.

You have advanced to skill level 6 in First Aid.

Aside from the pair of skill-ups, working as a support role for the fight had still netted me just under 50,000 XP for killing the kraken. Among my crew, that was the lowest reward. Al...

77. The Kraken

77.

“Captain? Captain can you hear me? You need to heal yourself! Use your replenishing waters spell …”

“Captain, we can’t keep going like this, you need to use your magic!”

“DOMENIC!”

In a terrifying fever dream, I latched onto an insistent voice and gradually realized I was being given instructions and needed to comply. I wasn’t feeling up for doing much of anything, but the promise of healing and feeling even a little better than I did right now ...

76.

“What do you make of it?”

“Looks just the same to me now as it did yesterday.”

I huffed in exasperation at Jorgagu’s reply. The orc knew the importance of discovering the mechanics of the trap laid for us, yet after several days of scouting our targets out he was succumbing to his racial impatience. At least he wasn’t as bad as Gnar, who after a few hours decided he didn’t like having to restrain all his newly-minted professionals aching to prove themselves.

Se...

75. An Unexpected Party

This chapter has quite a few tables, so recommend checking it out in the attached pdf since patreon's site doesn't play nice with those ...

I appreciate your patience with this delayed chapter.  Several things conspired together to make it late, but I hope that the result is enjoyable!

As a side note, I intend to take some time off from Royal Road this month for a holiday break, but my goal is to churn out some more patreon chapters for a larger backlog.  (That's the goa...

74.

“Die!” my opponent screamed in a desperate octave, his blade slicing my light armor as I tried to dodge. There were some times – lots of times – where I wished that I had any talent for using a shield. I wouldn’t ask for much … just a single level with the skill so that the vitally important piece of defensive gear would be more useful than a training weight. But no, of all the areas I had a talent in that skill was missing. Many experienced trainers had tried at this point. I was...

73.

(Author's Note: I edited chapter 72 to include a discussion on enchanting that I meant to include.  That also pushed that particular chapter to almost 7,000 words, which I hope will make up for this one being just under my average goal of 4,000.)

I sat on the fantail of the Roc’s Eye, one of my father’s books on my lap. I had been keeping up on my reading of all sorts of topics, but right now I could only stare at the page, my mind elsewhere.

We were s...