Solo Warrior 21: Gael Serran Courier Service

[Bungleau]

Back to Chapter 20 - - - Back to the Beginning

Missy Hissy’s last stop in Brimloch Roon was at the shipyard, where she found a ship for sale and a job that needed doing. Paying her hard-earned gold for the ship, she promised to bring back any crab shells that she found. Perhaps they might be useful later.

As she left Brimloch Roon, she stared at the ship in front of her – her ship, freshly purchased. “Who would have thought I'd have a brand-new ship?” she asked herself as she walked around it, fingers caressing the polished wood.

“What’s this?” She stopped as her fingers found a spot that felt different, and on closer inspection, she could see that it had been patched and re-polished. “Looks like a sword nick,” she thought. Looking around, she spied more patches in the woodwork.

“Swords, arrows, even fire blasts,” she grumbled. “You’d think someone would take care of a boat properly, and keep the fires off of it.” She had half a mind to go back in to Brimloch Roon and confront Buckly about his “new” ship, but decided to talk to him when she got back.

Not trusting the seaworthiness of the ship, Missy slipped her wizard’s blade into its sheath, secured it, and dove beneath the waters of the Enchanted Sea.

What a pleasant surprise! The waters were quite salty, making them very buoyant and making it much easier for her to float and swim. As she glided through the crystal waves, she saw that the water itself seem to almost glow, making it easy to see in spite of the impending nightfall.

Swimming north along the coast, she soon came to a clearing. Walking ashore from the sea, she spied a group of centaurs. Approaching them afoot, as stealthily as could be while dripping seawater from her arms and armor, Missy asked one if there were a centaur named Argothius about.

“I be he,” said one centaur loudly, tramping up to approach her. Using his size to intimidate her, he glowered down. “And who be ye, looking for me?”

“Strumbold sent me,” she began.

“Strumbold?!?!? That no-good vagrant promised me a superior helm, and left me with this bit of tin and polish. Tell him I’ll pay him money when he gives me a decent helm. Better yet, I’ll write it on your corpse and send it back to ‘im myself!”

Grabbing a sword, Argothius began swinging at her while the other centaurs nocked arrows and let fly. Falling back on her ninja training, Missy dodged and weaved between the attacks as her wizard’s blade carved through the nighttime air and centaur body parts with equal ease. Moments later, the tiny glade grew quiet as the last of the centaurs fell and she began the task of collecting their goods, half-heartedly checking to see what was worth selling and what should be left for the next scavenger to come along. Strumbold’s helm was among the pieces, so she loaded that into her pack. The arrows and bows were of an inferior quality, so she left those behind.

Heading out, Missy soon left the small inlet where Brimloch Roon was located and headed out onto the open portion of the sea. A sense of movement stirred the waters behind her, and she saw a sea shark headed her way. Three of them, actually; she’d heard they rarely traveled alone, and the stories were apparently correct. Gritting her teeth and adjusting her body in the salty water, she prepared for her first serious underwater combat.

It was tricky, much harder than fighting on land. She could land a good blow, or perhaps two, on a shark, but then she’d be sinking below, and it would be out of reach. As she swam upward, she could get back in range, but it was a treacherous line she swam, trying to stay within range while trying to avoid the shark’s attacks. And the presence of the other sharks didn’t make it any easier!

Finally, she let herself fall into the depths as the sharks swam after her. As her feet settled on the silt-covered bottom of the sea, she finally had enough stability to attack and defend quickly. Her silver-plated blade flew in and out of the shadowy depths, leaving large cuts in the sharks and spilling their blood into the sea. If only she could hold her breath long enough, she’d be safe.

Soon, the last of the sharks lay dying on the ocean floor, and her ears detected a strange clicking sound. Looking around, she soon noticed a giant crab, much like the one she’d killed in the bottom of the Stout Mines, heading her way. The commotion and blood scent had brought it her way, and it was looking for dinner.

Missy had overheard in the tavern in Brimloch Roon that it was actually possible to pick the pocket of a crab and steal its shell, and since Buckly wanted shells, she figured she’d give it a try. Sheathing her blade, she tried once… twice… and then swam up to grab a fresh breath of air, for she’d been down for quite a while. The crab followed her, and on her fourth attempt, she was able to steal the shell right off its back. Grinning under the water, she pulled her blade back out and quickly put the crab to the bottom of the ocean, along with another crab that had come by and whose shell she also pickpocketed.

Her pack loaded, Missy decided to head back to Brimloch Roon to report her jobs complete, and to empty her pack and fill her purse. And to give Buckly a piece of her mind, too.

On to Chapter 22

[ 03-25-2003, 11:35 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

[macoati]

Very nice, B! Keep her going [img]smile.gif[/img]

[HammerHead]

Excellent.

Haven,t got the time to read the first 20 chapters right now, but I sure will later. [img]smile.gif[/img]

C

[Wyvern]

YAY!!! Another excellent chapter!!

(WHen is she going to give Sebastian a piece of all our minds??? )

Wyv

[WillowIX]

Seems I missed chapter 20 but I´ve read it now. Great story Bungleau. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] We are nearing the end. I wonder how it will finish. Keep up the excellent work. Oh and don´t forget to use your blade on Sebastio, as Wyv suggested.

[LiOnHe@rT]

make sebastio feel the wrath of ur agony of him talking all day to u!
btw, the crabs can be pickpocketed?!?!?! hey i didnt know that, shucks gotta go n pick their pockets again so i can get extra shells!

[Bungleau]

Yep, you can pickpocket crabs. And probably raptors and longtooths as well. As is mentioned in the Best Tips thread, when you kill them, you get one chance for a shell (or egg or hide). If you fail when you pickpocket, you just keep trying. After all, what are they going to do -- get mad at you?

[bsftcs]

And Bark Horrors can be pickpocketed too.
Great new chapter, Bungleau. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Perhaps we could persuade the webmaster to institute a literature prize for the forum?

[Olli Kalma]

Bungleau!
Can't wait that you publish that into a book!!!

Btw. You can only pickpocket crabs once. After you get shell,
you can't get another one not by pickpocketing nor killing it.
Not for same crab. ( This is true, I stealed one shell by seacond trying, and after that I tried it again for over 15min but didn't get seacond one. )

[jsalsb]

What can I say... WOW! I read this installment, then went back to the beginning to start from scratch. I'm upto #12 now, and have downloaded the rest for some nice bedtime reading tonight (that's 'tonite' for all you lucky non-british-empire-types who get to use modern spelling technology

Keep them coming! although I see from where they are that they can't go on for too much longer. Very sad! Hmmm... maybe if you just keep going after the end, you'll have inadvertantly penned the plotline to W&W II!

Great job! more entertaining than anything I've been charged actual money for in a long time!