[Complete] the Mana-Wilds (A Golarionite Odyssey) #2: Dreams of Water

Chapter 1

Trigger Warning: Assisted Suicide and Suicide

Angered Waves crash, rogue winds smash and rain-wet sailors cry as the Burnt Saffron Galley struggled to keep its nose straight up to the air upon the hurricane winds of the Inner Sea.

"I told'cha boss! D-D-Di shortcut of yours is gonna get us all killed!" one of the Burnt Saffron's sailors yelled at the top of his lungs as he cut open several ropes that bounded the Galley's Sails.

"Gozreh bedevils us!" cursed the Captain Farzaam Khorsheed. His scorched palms to the twin Gods of Nature's necks. A tall human male in his drenched leather jacket towered amongst his crew in stature and in status. "But Abrogail would rather see us sleepin' down below Azlanti's grave than have'er next shipment come late."

"Watch out!" a Tiefling Sailor screamed as one titanic wave loomed above the Burnt Saffron.

Captain Khorsheed yelled to his sailors as he grabbed hold of the Galley's steering wheel. "Brace!"

But Gozreh's wrath was swift as it they were powerful. The wave collided amongst the crew of the Burnt Saffron, rending man and wood overboard. Bodies and piles of assorted wood and steel fell overboard yet the Galley stubbornly refused to go under.

"Damage, Da-Damage Report!" Captain Khorsheed shouted.

"She's caught a wounded! We're takin' water!" alerted an orange-tinted pirate lass who spotted with her keen eyes the damage caused forth by the Rogue Wave. Her body had slid across the deck of the ship, barely able to latch on for dear life onto the rails of the Galley from the thalassic maws of the ocean.

To her and the rest of the crew's horror, they saw what every mariner feared the most. A mortal wound had struck the Burnt Saffron upon their Starboard Side.

"By his Flames! You, you there! By the Nine-Hells get up whoever you are?" he ordered the coral-skinned crewmate who had pulled her own weight.

The sailor immediately, if standing rather clumsily upright in no thanks to the sea-borne turbulence the Galley face towards her superior. An Azarketi Female or apricot skin, humanoid half-fish yet uncannily humanlike of folks whose affinity of the seas and all sorts of rough terrains made them ideal for such bitter conditions. A natural recruit for the hardy crew of the Burnt-Saffron amongst the myriad masses that dotted for a purpose amongst the ruins of the Inner Sea's many coastal civilizations. Quick on her feet, hands and head but doltish enough to never question her orders nor outshine her master. The perfect lackey.

"Merizi sir! Deckhand." she saluted stating her name and station. It was quite a humbling experience to be at the presence of her master. The great Captain Farzaam Khorsheed, the Scourge of Inner Seas. Rarely she would get to meet him eye-to-eye. Being only a humble deckhand of unremarkable clout.

"Sod-it all! Get your useless arse downstairs, ges'some iron 'an tell derse' lazy-bones to grab as much of the Cargo as your hands can carry to the lifeboats!" he ordered. The captain let out a dissatisfied growl as he realized there was nothing left more, he could do.

"W-we are abandoning t-t-the ship?" Merizi lip decanted. Her mouth twitched yet words were barely able to come out of her tongue. The ship had been her home for so long it was practically her entire life eversince she was just a powder-monkey to a deckhand.

"I can't afford to lose every-fing now. I rather take'er chances with that she-devil Abrogail 'stead." Captain Khorsheed replied. "Now make yersel' useful and git' down'ere!"

"Aye-Aye!" Merizi saluted.

"Tupur, get the life boats ready and iron out whatever you can scrounge up for us! I want every one of the crew armed when we leave! We are abandoning ship!"