Eight Intertwined

112 - Leon

On the way back to Victors Hollow, Tressa scrawled away in her journal about the battle with Draefendi. She had developed quite the talent for writing and walking at the same time without her words coming out slanted or garbled, and she gladly used that to her advantage to finish sharing the tale of their encounter with Draefendi. She wanted to get it out of the way quickly before the treasure hunt began in full since she had no idea how long that was going to take them to finish. Hopefully, it would be a fairly simple and danger-free quest, but Tressa wasn't holding her breath. She was ready for a fight if it came to that, though she was hoping it would be easy enough to not require combat. She had seen more than enough conflict lately as far as she was concerned, and she needed a break. 

Once Tressa was finished detailing the battle at the shrine from that morning, she flicked through the rest of her journal. The traveler who had owned the notebook before her had talked about his time in Victors Hollow. He had found something he was searching for there in Victors Hollow, and given what Tressa had heard from Cecily, it was sounding like she was going to end up that lucky too. The sooner Tressa could get all of this out of her head and off her plate, the better. She wanted to have her wares for the Merchants' Faire squared away and ready as early as possible so she could just focus on the journey ahead. She would need to be focused when they headed to Duskbarrow and then Stillsnow, after all. 

The group arrived in Victors Hollow a few moments after Tressa had finished skimming over the Victors Hollow entries left behind by the notebook's previous owner. She tucked her pen out of view before clapping the notebook shut and glancing around the stalls that lined the entrance to the city. She had no idea where to start when it came to searching for a pirate's treasure, but she figured there had to be some clue left behind that would point her in the right direction. Pirates loved to mark their treasure down on maps and sea charts, so maybe she would be able to find something like that and then follow it to success. Maybe it was a bit of a stereotypical thought, but Tressa didn't mind it much. Even if it was stereotypical, she was looking forward to a good old fashioned treasure hunt as a way of taking her mind off everything that had happened over the last few weeks. It would be nice, simple, and fun. She had more than earned that. 

Tressa started off by proudly walking through the stands near the stony entryway the city, passing over a few food stalls before her gaze fell on what she could only assume was an antique stand. The stall was littered with a variety of goods that lacked any sense of rhyme or reason. The items were simply there, and the only common thread between them all was their age. 

It didn't take long for Tressa's eyes to lock on a rolled up piece of paper at the center of the table. She approached the scroll and eyed the ornate ribbon keeping it tied together. Even if her view of the page was somewhat limited, she could tell it was a map. Her treasure senses tingling, Tressa turned to the shopkeeper as the rest of the travelers caught up with her. She had gotten so wrapped up in the idea of her hunt that she had lost them in the crowd for a moment. "Excuse me," Tressa started, and the shopkeeper turned to look at her. "What can you tell me about this map?"

"That old thing? Hm... I don't really know where it came from," the antique dealer admitted. "Found it in the storehouse and thought about throwin' it out at first. But I figured I could make at least a few leaves off it this way."

"Mind if I take a closer look?" Tressa asked, her fingers itching to pull the ribbon apart and examine the map's contents. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions by thinking the map would have something valuable for her, but her excitement refused to be restrained. 

Much to Tressa's glee, the shopkeeper nodded, and she unfurled the page after pulling the ribbon off and setting it on the table. The page was weathered, though the top layer of writing was stark against the page. It had been redrawn a great many times, though the older lines had faded into obscurity with the passage of years. Tressa sniffed at the paper and immediately recognized the strong, overpowering scent of seawater rushing to greet her senses. Everything about the page felt well-loved to her, as if the person who made it had poured their heart and soul into the construction of the map. It was special to the one who had made it, and Tressa could feel the sentimentality bleeding off the paper.