d20 Dark Quest City Guide Nautical Necessities.pdf

Table of Contents

Shadow of Light

Cartographer’s Shop

Papa Jack’s

Gentleman’s Provissions

Buttericks Bait Shop

Shipwright, Port Authority, Pub & Inn

Ensign Davy’s Tattoo Parlor

White Hart Tavern

Port Authority Ship Sudbury

Privateer Ship The Antelope

Merchant Ship Santa Barbara

Passenger Ship Saint Catherine

Viking Long Ship Waterstrider

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Proofreader:

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Line Developer:

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Cover Art:

Gillian Pearce

Interior Illustration:

Gillian Pearce

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Shadow o f Light

exciting. I tell you, what I’d give to fight for me gold instead of

dig for it-"

"You want to fight for it?" Romar asked, his voice decep-

tively casual.

"Ah, perhaps not..."

"Then keep digging."

There were two other humans down there with Maurin,

and when one of them called for a light, Daegalwyn gestured

with her right hand, causing a burst of fire to flare brightly

above the hole. Exclamations came from down below, and a

clatter sounded nearby as the elf preparing a lantern almost

dropped his oil flask.

"What are you doing, Drow?" Romar demanded sharply.

Daegalwyn flinched and the fire-burst, reacting to her

emotions, blazed brighter. "Sir, they... that is, I-"

The Captain glared at her. "No magic!"

She cancelled her own spell so quickly she almost blacked

out. Romar grabbed her shoulders as she stumbled, but not

unkindly. His hands were very warm after the cooling air, she

thought irrelevantly, and steeled herself for another rebuke.

"I didn’t mean to call you that," he said softly.

She shrugged. It was true, in a way. Her father had been a

dark-elf. It took a long time for her to gain the trust of anyone

for that reason. But before she could say anything in return, one

of the humans called out, "Is this what we came for?"

A dirty hand held up something small from the hole and

Romar went over quickly, his dark blue cloak swirling. The lamp

was carried over and Daegalwyn watched as the three men lift-

ed themselves out of the hole and beat dirt from their shirts

and hair. Romar remained crouched facing them, his back to

her, examining whatever they’d found.

Whatever it was, it couldn’t be the hoard they’d all signed

up to look for. Daegalwyn turned to look down at the Torrent,

pale blue eyes catching the last ray of sunlight that shimmered

across the waves before the day ended.

"Treasure hunting," Maurin stated, heaving a shovel-full of

dirt over his shoulder, "is vastly overrated."

Daegalwyn rolled her eyes and glanced at Captain Romar,

who stood staring moodily down at the small bay where the

Torrent rested at anchor. The sun was setting beyond the three-

masted ship, staining the western sky a rich orange and sheath-

ing the clouds in gold. The Torrent seemed as if she were float-

ing on a sea of flame.

"Stupid bloody bard’s song about fighting with dragons

and cursed islands," Maurin went on. "All that tripe does is dis-

courage people from coming to places like this."

"Lucky for us," Romar remarked without even turning his

head.

"Aye, sir, very true." The dark-skinned human’s voice came

muffled this time as his head went below the surface of the

hole. "But my point is that it’s meant to make all this sound

* * *

A steel scroll case, pitted with dirt and rust, held a scrap of

waxed parchment. Romar wiped the surface clean and pulled a

map from inside his jacket - a map pieced together from parch-

ment fragments like this one. A satisfied smile crossed his face

as he fit this newest piece to the puzzle and dropped the case

back into the hole. Then he stood, rubbed the back of his neck

and looked around for Kandeira.

"Sir," the elf said softly, one gloved hand holding the

lantern. "Do we return to the Torrent?"

"The map’s complete, ’Deira," Romar replied, holding it

out. "That was the final piece. What does it say?"

Kandeira held the lantern closer and squinted at the map.

"Don’t tell me you can’t decipher an X, Captain."

A grin flashed above the blond beard. "What about the

script above it?"

" ’Candel’s stash. Found by Flame.’ "

"So that’s the last of the riddle, too." Romar brushed a fin-

ger across other words on separate pieces. ’Reached by Water’,

’Hidden in Earth’ and ’Protected by Night’. He frowned at that

last one, then at the darkening sky.

Kandeira understood. Again he asked, "Sir, do we return to

the Torrent?"

Ignore the warning, or believe it? Thinking of Maurin’s

ramblings of curses and magical guardians made his lip curl,

and he shook his head. "No. But be watchful, nevertheless."

"Aye, sir."

They found the cave after an hour, bored into the side of

an irregular rock formation and leading down at a steep angle.

The air coming up from it was warm; it could have been a trick

of the night... but it didn’t look completely dark down there.

"These islands were made by underwater volcanoes,"

Romar muttered to ’Deira. "Care to make a wager that this is

one of them?"

"’Found by Flame’," the elf murmured back. "It makes

sense, sir. I think I’ll keep my money where it is."

Romar clapped him on the shoulder and turned to the rest

of his people. "Everyone light up a torch. We’re going down."

They obeyed and he lit his own brand, holding it out as far

as he could into the tunnel to get a good look at the path. Floor,

walls, and ceiling were smooth, but his boots, designed to grip

slippery surfaces, held him upright. He had to walk carefully

anyway - if he gained speed going down this steep incline there

was no way he’d be able to stop himself.

* * *

"You all right there, girl?" Maurin asked.

Daegalwyn glanced at him, eyes in a dark face reflecting the

lamplight from up ahead as they followed the Captain through

tropical vegetation. Maurin was the only one of the company

here that she genuinely liked. For reasons he never shared, he

treated her as a friend without asking anything of her.

"Captain didn’t hurt you, did he?"

"No." She grimaced, not wanting to remember the inci-

dent. "It was nothing. Does he have something against magic?"

"The Torrent’s had her share of incidents. We always

seemed to come out the worse for wear when magic was

involved, though." He shrugged. "What I don’t get is why he

hired you if he doesn’t want to make use of you." When she

flushed, he amended, "I mean your powers, girl."

"That’s what confused me," she admitted, and peered past

the two sailors in front of them to where Romar and the elf

Kandeira strode. "Do you think I should ask him?"

Maurin chuckled deep in his throat, white teeth flashing in

a smile. "Don’t ask me, girl. That way you can’t blame me if it

turns out to be bad advice."

Daegalwyn returned the grin and breathed deeply of the

sea air, glancing up. It wasn’t fully night yet, and stars winked

down from a very dark blue sky. Wisps of cloud, silvered by the

rising moon, trailed across the horizon like a horse’s mane.

"If you think that’s beauty," Maurin said after a moment’s

silence, "wait until we walk in on that treasure. The lantern-light

washes over it like dawn across the ocean, and the sound of

coins falling from your hands is like the waves crashing at

Avandar Cove."

"I think you missed your calling as a bard, my friend."

He flashed her another grin. "When we find the hoard,

you’ll understand."

* * *

The going was slow and taxing on leg muscles. His calves

ached and sweat beaded his forehead, though not from pure

exertion. The air was getting hotter with every step, and he was

willing to bet that if they doused their lights the darkness ahead

would be tinged with red.

"Stop," he said at last. "We’ll rest a moment." He sat cau-

tiously, half-expecting to slide down the tunnel, and called for

Daegalwyn. The half-Drow came forward as the other sailors

groaned with relief, and crouched beside him.

"Sir?"

"Do you have any spells that can detect things?"

"What kind of things?"

"Enemies. Living things, undead things. Anything that can

do us harm."

She nodded, watching him with those pale-blue eyes.

"Cast it now. Tell me if there’s anything we need fear."

"You want me to use magic?"

"You’re a mage, aren’t you?" He gestured impatiently.

Her mouth twitched, as though she was holding back a

smile. "Yes, sir. Just a moment." Her eyes closed and she made

a few motions in the air with her hands. Then she went still.

Romar leaned back with a sigh and waited. Now he’d see if

trusting magic would pay off.

"I sense something."

He looked at the back of her head and waited.

"A horse?"

"On the surface of the island, you mean?" Romar asked.

"No, down here. Further down the tunnel. It’s black... with

a mane and tail like fire. And eyes..." A shiver coursed through

her. "...and evil."

* * *

"A Nightmare," Kandeira breathed for the Captain alone

to hear. "We can’t fight such a beast, sir."

"We’ll go back and get more-" he began, but Daegalwyn

gasped and her eyes snapped open.

"It’s coming! It sensed me!"

Romar cursed. Damn all magicks to the lower Hells! Now

what? "How far away is it?" he demanded.

The black pupils had almost swallowed the rest of her eyes

as she stared at him. "It’s coming fast."

And then he heard it. Hooves ringing against stone, and

the gleam of fire in the deeper darkness.

to move aside, but the tunnel was too narrow. Steam roiling

from its midnight flanks, head lowering against the magic, it

charged. She was dimly aware of Romar drawing his curved

sword on her left, and Kandeira doing the same on her right.

She focused harder on the spell, filling the air with a freezing

wind and piercing needles of ice.

* * *

"Daegalwyn."

A cold hand shook her shoulder.

"Daegalwyn, it’s dead. You can stop."

She lowered her hand, allowing the magic to fade. The

Nightmare’s half-frozen body sprawled a few feet away from

her, the rocks around it slick with ice.

"Damn, if that isn’t a sight," Maurin said. "Are you sure it’s

dead, sir?"

Romar sat down and slid on his rump to where the body

was. After a brief examination, he said, "It’s dead," and slid

down a bit further, lifting his torch. He raised a brow at them,

the firelight playing across his smile of anticipation. "Are you

coming or not?"

The cavern was vast, and it glowed with heat. Daegalwyn

stared over a lake of bubbling liquid, knowing instantly it was-

n’t lava. "Like dawn across the ocean," she breathed to Maurin.

"I thought you were just being poetic." The awestruck

sailor only shook his head.

"This might take some effort to get back to the Torrent,"

Romar noted.

* * *

"You wish to pass?"

The thought rang in her mind, a challenge.

"You would pit yourself against me, daughter of Drow?"

Hands grabbed the back of her shirt, dragging her up the

tunnel.

She knew she was being watched long before she could see

the eyes.

"Your kind have tamed mine before, but you might have a

hard time with me."

"Harder than you think," she heard herself say. "I am only

half-Drow. And half-human."

A sensation of mad laughter. "You are right, then. Much

harder than I thought."

"Let me go," Daegalwyn ordered, and at first she didn’t

know if she spoke to the creature or the person dragging her.

"Damn you, get up and run," Romar ordered. "I never

leave anyone behind, but I am damned tempted."

"Sir!" She tried to free herself, failed, and struggled. "Let

me go! I can fight it!"

"You?" he snorted. "With magic?"

"You know full well what it’s capable of, or so I’ve been

told."

He stopped dragging her. "Are you that powerful?" He

scowled. "If you’re wrong"

"I’ll apologize later," she promised, and ignored his mut-

tered oath. "You hired a Battle Mage, sir, not someone who’s

only good for telling you which way’s east and when it’s going

to rain."

"You think you can kill it?" Maurin asked.

"You think you can kill me?"

She smiled, confidant. This was what she was here to do,

what she’d been hired to do. Here she could prove her worth.

"Yes."

The Nightmare stepped from the shadows and tossed its

fiery mane, nostrils flaring. One hoof scraped sparks from the

rocks. Daegalwyn pointed and blue-white frost streaked from

her hand in a chilling cloud. The Nightmare screamed and tried

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