Christopher Robinson
Stories
7
Chapters
2,452
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I was bleary-eyed but awake and focused when the admiral’s ship signaled us the next morning, and we had all hands roused to come alongside the flag ship again. Once I had the knack, maintaining the flood barrier was as simple as breathing – at least when the damage and flooding wasn’t that bad – so I lent a helping hand to the lines because why not? Graves walked the plank back to our ship and told lieutenant Siebert to turn the ship heading 340. We pulled away from the rest of the fleet. Graves…-
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I’d thought when I climbed aboard the “Tell me,” I said, trying to understand things. “What do you mean by being the ship’s second mage?” “Standard complement aboard a warship these days is two mages; either to fight, fuel the ship’s flood control, or communicate with other mages. We’re down one of ours. Would you consider taking up the vacant spot?” “I might …” I said slowly. “Good! Come meet Frederick, our mage in charge.” The Captain moved around his desk and led me…
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71 •
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I took in the field of debris I found myself in and numbly processed it. When a heavily battered ship flying the flag of Antarus began sailing in my direction, I let myself slip beneath the waves. Deep beneath the waves. I needed time to think, and process the prompts waiting for my attention. That teleportation spell had It was good to advance my attributes, since I hadn’t gotten any points from levelling with Jones’ order. Still, I was thankful I hadn’t advanced it any higher than that. It…
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71 •
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The I wondered what I might do. The adventurer team behind Meg the mystery girl might have been an option, but ignoring that they were probably a well-sponsored, well-equipped and likely high level team, they were somewhere on land. Whatever spell or ability let Meg do her portaling, she’d disappeared inland and I had no means of tracking her there. Besides, while Jones had been intent on interrupting whatever she was telling me, he’d only been annoyed at her presence. It was me who was in trouble,…
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71 •
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I’d been ordered to get the Improving the speed and maneuverability of my carrack were out of the question, as was directly investing in things like ship weapons or defenses. For the right price, the ship could be stocked with simple weapons that dealt cursed damage. For a heftier price, those weapons could be truly special. I couldn’t get any of them. Why? I’d thought Jones was just angry with me, but now I wondered if there was more to it than a simple trial-by-fire. Had he intended to supply me…
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71 •
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After our mail delivery, we laid low for several days while we moved further north. While still in the Broken Isles, we were approaching the mainland isthmus of Elessar. It was on the western border of the elvish kingdom, where their grand forests turned into the mountainous steppes of Desolas. Along the isthmus were several elvish havens and shipyards, most of which were closed to non-elves even in peacetime. Those ports had become battlegrounds in the war, as the human confederation sought to establish…
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71 •
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I’d told my crew that I planned to harry ports and naval vessels. After our first successful raid, most of my crew seemed to expect that I would have gotten the urge out of my system. My orders to continue doing what I’d already planned seemed to disturb them. There’s a reason most people don’t join the military or become adventurers. Well, there were a lot of reasons not to do either – particularly the adventuring shtick. What was most relevant to me was that most people didn’t have it in…
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71 •
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When Rhistel said we could try and befriend the Charybdis, I thought … well, I thought we’d have a deep sea monster heeling our ship the same way a nosy whale tailed a fishing boat. I thought that I’d have to make sure the crew struck a balance between not being terrified of our newest pet and not being so familiar they stupidly antagonized it. Really, I knew so little about communing with sea life. It’s a wonder Jones even offered me Rhistel had set up a meeting place with the Charybdis before…
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“He …” Arnnaith said, looking at the cave in that blocked Rhistel inside the island with the long arms of the Charybdis. “He didn’t make it out. I thought … I thought he’d survive anything.” “Most lives end too abruptly.” I said, myself in shock. I hadn’t gotten a notification of a lost crewman yet, but it was only a matter of time given Rhistel was trapped inside with the monster. “Sea monsters don’t care, we’re a snack like any other beast to them.” Arnnaith looked a bit…
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We escaped the naval sortie without any other casualties. We headed for the deepest water we could find, and while the Well, besides the last boulders they tried dropping on us. Thankfully it was much harder to hit a target when it wasn’t just under the waves. We avoided the attacks. Looking at the charts and the terrain around us, Burdette and I picked a spot to hide. ‘Hide’ was the wrong word, as they could still point right to us, but to go any further would require us to move closer to the…
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