In the end, Olaf’s stabbing was resolved quickly when the Pampus authorities arrived. Erik acted appropriately distraught and angry to extort a large amount of compensation money from the offending captain while hiding his amusement at this stroke of luck.
Afterwards, Erik talked at length with Skadi. They agreed to keep Olaf’s death a secret from the twins for now, so the unborn children could grow more resistant to miscarriage before delivering a grave shock to their mothers.
They also continued their conversation from previous nights about Erik’s idea for his second spell slot and Skadi patiently taught Erik what she knew about the subject of Daemon Summoning & Binding.
At one point Yeying, who sat silently in a corner of Erik’s private cabin, fidgeted uncomfortably. She was still unaware of why she was here, although she had enough awareness to realise she most likely wouldn’t return to the Blooming Rose.
Her movements were noticed by Erik and he spoke to her in Cathayan, startling Yeying for a moment before she eagerly began talking to him. Where was she? Who was Erik? What would happen to her? A veritable waterfall of questions poured out of her mouth and Erik patiently answered what he could.
She was in a city on the other end of the continent. Erik was a Thane of a decently large tribe and commanded a large vessel. And Erik had made a deal with her owner where she was part of the bargain, so she would now be following him around for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps unhappy at Erik’s sudden shift of attention, Skadi began stroking Erik over his pants and nibbled his ear to draw back his attention to her. Not caring much for the audience, Erik then reciprocated to which Yeying reacted like a scared rabbit.
She may have worked in a brothel for months and was well aware of what went on in there, but she had never actually seen any of it go down for real.
Still, Erik and Skadi’s combined presence resulted in the air being filled with a dense atmosphere of lust and desire, quickly putting Yeying in a daze and drawing her in.
Soon after, Skadi left Erik on the edge and shifted her focus to the now nearby Yeying. Seeing the slightly glazed look in her eyes, Skadi grinned as she kissed and caressed Erik’s new possession.
Erik hung back, enjoying the unfolding play, but couldn’t hold on for long. Seeing Yeying was more than ready to receive him, Erik took over Skadi’s efforts for a short while before penetrating deep into Yeying. A slight trace of blood appeared, confirming Bartholomeus’s claims of the woman’s purity.
The night wasn’t young anymore and the sun soon crested the eastern horizon to herald a new dawn. Still, it was summer so there were still some hours before the island came to life again. And until then, Erik and his two companions continued to enjoy themselves.
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Days later, out at sea, Erik cast his gaze at their newest target. For the past three weeks he had hunted down numerous targets, sometimes even two or three a day, singled out by Bartholomeus’s man.
“This one’s a double-decked galley, single row of no more than eight cannon either side and a crew of up to 180 men. One of my master’s rivals owns it and uses it to move around… less than legal substances.” – The man, Jacob, succinctly told Erik what he needed to know. At first the man had been nervous, being aboard a ship full of bloodthirsty Norscans, which resulted in him trying to please Erik too much. Whenever a ship came in sight, target or not, he would attempt to tell every little detail he know about the make and origin of the ship which greatly annoyed Erik to no end.
Eventually Erik just clobbered him over the head and told him not to bother with unnecessary details. Affiliation, crew and cannons were the only relevant things Erik needed.
Experience had taught Erik that the easiest way to win was to just ram a ship through the middle, but this also meant the loss of potential spoils and risked cannon fire damaging ship and crew. The hull of the Dragonship, now lovingly nicknamed “Bouncy” by the crew, showed a few dents and scratches from where cannonballs had hit but not broken the ship’s hull. And one time a lucky shot from the enemy had eviscerated ten men at once when the lead ball zipped right over the balustrade and wreaked havoc.
Instead the Norscan ‘privateers’ took a different approach. They would either approach from the front and board bow-to-bow or, when the ship came from an awkward angle or tried to run, they would give chase from behind where the powerful oar strokes from the Dragonship’s crew would swiftly catch up.
In this manner they had already taken and plundered eighteen ships, among which were three large Galleons filled to bursting with silver, spices from Araby, Estalean iron ore, fine linen fabrics from Tilea and more.
Plunder was so bountiful the ship’s hold had to be emptied at Bartholomeus’s hidden cove multiple times.
Even Erik’s secret Inventory was rapidly filling up with a plethora of rare products and valuable items. Exotic animal hides, rare ores and fine silks all disappeared into thin air before anyone noticed they were there. Not everything of course, Erik still left about half of these useful treasures to be tallied up on the inventory to be sold to Bartholomeus or distributed among the crew.
If there was one thing to dislike about this massively profitable endeavour, it was the inability to take thralls. Each and every last crewmember of the boarded ships was put to the sword to silence any witnesses. The gore-drenched and often battered ships would then either be set on fire and sunk or, when it was time to return to base, they would tow the ships back with them and sold it as well.
And every time the Norscans came on shore, they were greeted by warm fires, hot food and eager women. ‘Eager’ meaning ‘eager for the Norscans’ silver’. Erik’s crew had picked up a bad habit on Pampus Erik unwillingly allowed for now, but he also vowed to put the men through gruelling training to straighten them out again when they eventually returned home.
In the meantime, Bartholomeus had finished inquiring after the draconic claw and Erik was now the proud owner of a young Sun Dragon’s claw which came with the benefit of being 35% more resistant to fire. Of course, Bartholomeus didn’t provide the percentage but the GAO informed Erik of this instead after the successful identification.
Erik also made great progress in his Magical studies under the tutoring of both Scaldar and Skadi. He had learned to unconsciously not-intend to use Magic when expressing himself, meaning he now had to intentionally intend to use Magic for it to work. Which sounds paradoxical but does prevent Erik from accidentally using Magic and filling up his Spell Slots with useless or dangerous spells.
One evening Scaldar congratulated Erik on finishing his studies so quickly, saying he now possessed the knowledge required to summon and create binding pacts with lower Daemons as well as how to attempt to reach out to stronger beings of Chaos.
“When we return home and you watch the tribe during the Third Season, we will perform the first ritual together to truly put theory to practice. I look forward to what you may accomplish, Erik!” – The proud Vikti said as a fanatical light burned in his eyes.
Now, it was time to take another ship. The final ship, as it happens, before Erik completed the list of targets within his operational range. Still, Erik felt uncomfortable as he looked at the lonely ship.
Flanked by his trusty Ice Wolves, Geri & Freki, Erik had led the charge onto similar ships with his new axe many times now and cut a bloody swathe through the desperate defenders. A couple times he had actually been shot by pistols and muskets, but the soft lead balls either flattened on the Black Steel armour or were quickly pushed out by Erik’s Regeneration. But because this reduced the potential casualties, Erik didn’t mind.
And yet this ship sent a shiver down his spine as if something eerie was going on, something wrong.
There was nothing odd to be seen even as the target noticed the Dragonship pouncing towards it rather than sail past and reacted appropriately by running away as fast as the wind allowed.
Sailors scurried about to arm themselves, cannons were hurriedly loaded and fuses were lit.
Committed to the encounter, Erik clasped his axe in one hand and a javelin in the other as he went to stand near the Corvus, a bridge-like construction with a sharp metal spike that would drop down on a hostile ship-deck to connect both vessels and provide a stable gangway for the boarders to attack across.
The waiting, as ever, was both nerve-wracking and full of anticipation.
Behind Erik, Sven and the other boarders stood ready to follow their leader into battle while Geri & Freki bared their menacing, dagger-like teeth and let loose a low threatening growl as they too prepared for a fight.
The distance steadily closed and Erik began to countdown under his breath.
“10… 9… - 3… 2… 1..!”
And with a deep thud accompanied by the groaning of wood chafing on wood, the ships collided bow to stern and immediately afterward a second thud sounded out as the Corvus was swung onto the enemy ship.
“ROOAAAAR!”
Erik let loose a deafening bellow as he charged across, throwing his javelin at a man aiming his pistol before splitting another from shoulder to sternum with a single axe-blow moments later.
The Ice Wolves too swiftly crossed over, eager to bite the unarmoured flesh of their victims and it didn’t take long before their snarling snouts were smeared in crimson gore.
An all-out melee soon ensued on board the vessel as the Marauders with their thick shields and strong armour slaughtered the near-naked sailors and marines spread out on the deck.
Not long after, when Erik finished off one of the few capable defenders, the remaining crewmen locked themselves below the ship’s deck, away from the bloodthirsty Marauders.
But before Erik could give the command to break down the wood & iron doors, new wails of despair sounded out from beneath and the doors were thrown back open as the terrified sailors burst back out onto the deck.
‘What scared them so bad they chose to come to us rather than stay there?’ – Erik’s thoughts raced as he gave the order to capture the mad sailors.
He did not have to wait long for his answer as a mist reeking of blood slowly emerged from the hold and the formerly stark-blue skies filled with dark rainclouds and blocked out the sun. Everyone fell silent as even the thickest of Marauders realised something was amiss.
Then, amidst the silence, a calm thumping sound was heard before something, someone, calmly walked up the gore-drenched stairs and emerged in from the darkness.
Clad in flamboyant, Bordeaux red robes partially covered by dark leather straps edged in gold stood a man with skin pale as death, hair white like salt and one eye glowing crimson red while the other was covered with an eye-patch.
Erik, having slowly moved to the front, instantly recognised the creature for what he was when he saw the trail blood on the man’s chin.
A vampire.
Tightening the grasp on his axe-handle, Erik felt the same warning sensation from earlier run down his spine as every instinct in his body told him to be careful and get away from the apex predator before him.
But before Erik could make a decision on what to do, the man addressed his surroundings with a coarse, gritty voice.
“Many greetings and salutations, Men of the Frozen North and fellow sea-bound. My deepest apologies, truly, for meeting under such unpleasant circumstances.
Oh, where are my manners? Just a few… hmm… decades of slumber and I forget to introduce myself!
Such bad behaviour… bad! Bad! Bad! The Elf witch is bad! She betrayed us! Locked us up and took our treasure! Raagh, a curse on that rancid whore!” – As the vampire reprimanded himself and began to curse, Erik felt the danger rise even further as he realised the vampire was not in control of itself and quite clearly mad. Luckily, the vampire soon recomposed himself and continued as if nothing had happened.
“Yes, introductions are in order.
Well met, fellow seafarers! You are in the presence of Arch-Grand Commodore Luthor Harkon, Pirate King of the Vampire Coast!
Now, who may I address so we may start our Parley?”
Haha the mad motherf*cker himself
Of course he ran into Harkon it was just too easy and now he is ffacing a legendary lord.
Erik needs a bit of pressure. Felt like he was getting too confidant. Hopefully this has a correcting influence/gives him a wake up call.