Somassa

2 - A Ship on the Sea

His eyes adjusting once again to the bright morning sun, Saffrin crossed the deck back to the golden dragonborn waiting for he and Dua at the bow of the ship. Creldeus had moved on from sharpening a longsword to an axe with a long, pointed beard.

"Well, that didn't take long," he said reproachfully. "You leave anything, you're not getting it back. 'Least not for twelve more weeks, if we last that long," he added.

"I've got it covered, don't worry," said Saf, a hand on the pommel of his sheathed sword and an eyebrow raised in suspicion of the man's peculiar concern for their readiness.

"What's got you so interested in our business?" questioned Dua, squatting next to Creldeus and examining his work. "After six weeks, you finally care about us?"

"I care about everyone here. Like I said, you don't know what's ahead of you," he responded, not looking away from his weapon.

"And would you finally tell us what you're talking about?" asked Saffrin, annoyed.

Creldeus looked up at him, continuing to sharpen the axe. "What do you know about Somassa, son?"

"It's an island on the other side of the world that's home to monsters. That's what the Commission told us when we took the job," Saf replied, quickly and surely.

"And you?" asked the dragon, turning to Dua.

"It's..." she trailed into a thought. "It's a continent with no civilization, save the Commission and their community there. Not much is known about it, or what lives there."

"No civilization..." muttered Creldeus, thoughtfully. "Those monsters you mentioned," he said, turning to Saffrin, "are the people of Somassa. The remnants of a great kingdom that resided there before its collapse over three thousand years ago."

"A kingdom?" said Saf, astonished by this information. He thought back suddenly to his dream. "Was the king murdered before its collapse? Is that what caused it?"

Creldeus looked at him, surprised at his question. "Yes, the king was murdered, but that was not the cause. The collapse was more of an apocalyptic event."

"What do you mean? How do you know that?" asked Dua, looking at the dragonborn before turning to Saf, her eyes wide.

"I've heard tale of this place before being approached by the Commission. I was doing guild work for another mercenary group in the Reifbedeckt. I used to be a blacksmith, you see," he said, holding up the mirror-polished axe he had been sharpening, its edge glistening in the sunlight.

"One day, a strange man came into my shop. He was short and bearded like my dwarven companions but looked nothing like any dwarf I had ever seen. He was wide and strong like one but was wearing armor of no style I was familiar with. He spoke in a peculiar accent, and it was only after I began to talk with him that I noticed he had no ears, yet could communicate with me perfectly.

"I asked if I could help him, and he said he needed a mighty weapon to reclaim his homeland. I asked where he was from, and he said I wouldn't be familiar with it. I asked again, saying I'd be interested in it anyway, and he told me of an island across the sea that no people, save his own, had stepped foot on. He told me of a great evil that befouled the land three thousand years ago that left his people deformed and twisted, cursed with a loss of sight and hearing."

"Well, that doesn't sound like too bad of a curse," laughed Dua.

"So I thought," replied Creldeus, "until I asked him why he lost only his hearing and not his sight. He explained that his people were split into three factions, two of which followed the warring sons of the king, and one of which remained neutral throughout the battles. They were the poorer subjects of the kingdom, not wealthy or powerful enough to earn a spot in the princes' armies. He said after the kingdom split into thirds, a powerful sorcerer appeared to destroy the king and cast a curse upon the land. The people of one faction lost their sight, the others lost their hearing, and the third were maimed and twisted into hideous, unfeeling creatures that swept across the land, killing and destroying with reckless abandon."