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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tokiwong" data-source="post: 1498471" data-attributes="member: 961">Chapter 4 - Part 6The crew turned to the approaching light, as a soft moaning filtered out over the crashing of the waves.  The light moved swiftly over the water as if it floated, until it disappeared beneath the ship.  A figure rose up through the deck, a ghostly pale blue image of a man.  He was of saltblood stock, and now that he stood amongst the crew, many more details came to light.  His clothes were of noble bearing, a rich crimson coat, over a thin white shirt and black breeches.  Over his feet were finely polished boots.  The right side of his face was rife with tattoos, tribal markings for the most part.  His hair was dark and curly, and the slight slant in his eyes gave him an exotic gaze, as he scanned the crew with his ebon eyes.  Around his neck he wore a gold chain, upon which a blue amulet hung.  The markings on the amulet marked the ghostly man as a worshipper of the Old Man of the Sea, an ancient spirit that was said to give favor to sailors in need.  In less savory circles the immortal was often referred to as the ‘Pirate God’.The ghostly man smiled and bowed his head, speaking in accented Common, “Good evening to you all, Captain Ned Fletcher at your service.  The late Captain Ned Fletcher,” the spirit corrected himself.Ayala gulped, “A spirit of the sea, this be a bad omen…”“I assure you, I bring you a wondrous opportunity,” the spirit turned to Captain Celeste, “I was the master of the Stingray, never a finer ship sailed the waters,” he smiled wistfully.  “But now my fine ship flounders at the bottom of the sea, along with much of my crew.  We ran afoul of fish-men, blasted nasty creatures,” the spirit clenched his fist.“That does not explain why you have come to haunt us, Captain Fletcher,” Thane questioned the floating spirit.“Aye, well let me get right to the point then, shall I?  The Stingray was carrying a great treasure, when she met her fate at the bottom of the sea.  Chief amongst them was a gem called the Eye of the Sea Dragon, which I had sworn to return to the Temple of the Old Man of the Sea in Ebernath.  Until that oath is carried out I shall be cursed to wander this world for all eternity, mates.  In my current state, I can’t possibly retrieve the Eye on my own.  But with your help, I am sure we can retrieve the Eye and return it to Ebernath, what say you?”Captain Celeste mulled over the request, “What other treasure besides this eye, are we looking at mate?”“Whatever you can salvage from the Stingray is yours, all I care about is returning the Eye of the Sea Dragon to Ebernath where it belongs.  By the Old Man of the Sea, if you help me, it will be well worth your efforts, I was quite the privateer in my day, and liberated much booty from nefarious pirates,” the spirit grinned.“Privateer?” Dais asked.“A fancy way of saying pirate, mate,” Captain Celeste grinned, “my father Zanzibar Celeste was a ‘privateer’.”“Captain Zanzibar Celeste?” the ghostly captain grinned wide, “then I am most fortunate, never a finer sailor sailed the waters then Captain Celeste.  The man is said to have wrestled the secrets of the sea from the Old Man himself.  Sailed to the edge of the world and back, and had a secret treasure cache so vast, one’s family could live in opulence for a hundred life times.”“Wow your father sounds like quite the man,” Dais responded with a look of wonder.“That was my father,” Captain Celeste, “no man could live up to his reputation, and many have died trying,” she shrugged, “Captain Ned Fletcher, we have ourselves an accord, lead the way to the Stingray!”</blockquote>

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