Northern Feinan Highway was once an attempt to connect some of great cities of humanities. But even before it was completed, the project was abandoned as the monster problem of the East Feinan Spine region was never solved. The vast forests, Minona desert and the second half of Rosethorn mountains proved to be too much for the builders who weren't safe from the monster attacks. The last straws came in several years ago when Ribahn bridge was destroyed and the city-state of Pravoka fell under pirate's control. After there were very few who cared about the highway anymore. Despite their demands to rebuild the bridge for years it fell on deaf ears until the appearance of the Warriors of Light. Knowing that Lukahn's prophecy came true, he ordered an urgent rebuild of the bridge to allow the party to travel east by land and to have a potential evacuation route for refugees by land. Ribahn bridge over the namesake channel might not have poise or the appearance of the old stone bridge, but marksmanship of the new one was remarkable considering the speed of the build. As the party crossed the bridge, they thanked the builders who were preparing to return to their home and went on their journey.
Their first stop was Northport, a small town on Kaldea Sea coast. Built during the previous king's reign, it was a part of trinity of the newly developed towns whose focus was to increase the maritime power and trade on Aldean Sea. With the restock of their traveling supplies, they set off on the journey to meet the witch Matoya. The citizens had mention a witch who lived north of Cornelia and who might be able to help the party. With that and the mysterious lute on their minds, they all chosen to make her cave the first deatinantion. As days passed, the travel through the lush forest became more problematic as monster attacks increased. The reason for this was revealed to them much later. While the news of the Cornelia raid hadn't reached the goblins of the Blue Moon tribe, some members who were passing near the party felt some unknown animosity towards them. It was as if they were being called upon by their dead friends demanding revenge against the party. Slowly, but surely, more members started attacking as well as sending wolves and warg-wolves against the heroes. They seemed to go for Kelin as the blood of the dead on his rapier attracted them the most. Party, unaware of this, assumed that these were just monster attacks and dispatched them as quickly as they appeared. As it turned out this wasn't their biggest problem.
They had successfully found the witch's cave, but that was as far as their successes went. The witch was blind and so disturbed about this, she was unresponsive to any of the heroes' inquiries, no matter what they did they do or how did they asked. The only other alive things in the witch's cave were her animated brooms who continued to do their jobs. Party had no choice but leave the cave because there was nothing for them there. Well, Rosch may or may have not taken some advance payments on the future services that the witch might provide. Anyway, as the party assembled outside and looked at the map, they realized how badly this mistake had costed them. They were now farther away from their next stop, the city of Pravoka, and they had nothing to show for other than some gil recovered from the goblins and their food supplies replenished by wolf meat, herbs and wild fruits from the forest. The party visibly groaned at the revelation. They tried to pin blame on someone for this blunder, but since they agreed to visit the witch, they all shared the blame for it. There was nothing to do but to go on another long march through forests and a desert until their new destination. With their excitement gone, they started the journey again.
After several weeks fighting more zombies, wolves, undead, monstrous worm and even an ogre, they have finally reached Pravoka. Originally they planned to sneak into the city due to the pirate presence, but after over a month of being isolated in the wilds, they said screw it and went through the main city gates, found the first inn open to them, paid the price and went to sleep. When they woke up and exited the inn, two pirates were waiting for them. They wanted to demand the payment for the safe passage through the city, but before they could start threatening the party, the first pirate got knocked over by Lewyn's blow to the stomach. The second pirate reacted too slowly as his skull got crushed in by Mari's hammer. The party was cranky enough after their earlier mistake. They were in no mood to be threatened by some pirates. People in the streets were shocked at the sight of these events. One man started running away. Party, thinking he might try to report this to his boss, followed him. Their insticts were proven to be correct when they encountered a group of men lead by a man with purple coat, black hat and an eye patch over his left eye. The man yelled: "Ye've got cannon balls of steel to be takin' on Great Pirate Bikke! Keelhaul'em, boys!" One of his crewmates said: "Aye-aye, Cap'n! We'll make their bones crunch!" He was the first one to fall as Kelin pierced his heart. The rest of them didn't fair any better. With a quick cast of Protect on Rosch and Lewyn, even Mari joined in the melee. Not even two minutes later nine pirates were laying on the floor dead. Captain Bikke, realizing whom did he just angered, fell on his knees as he saw Rosch approaching him. His whole body was shaking as he exclaimed: "I be most sorry, young masters. I'll be making no more fuss, I swear." Rosch placed his blade on Bikke's throat. "I want ye to take me ship fer yer troubles. Can ye find it in yer hearts to fergive an old pirate?" Rosch asked him: "Do you swear that? Do you swear you won't lay finger on the innocent any more? Do you swear you will turn your life around?" "Y-yes, sire." "Good, because if I return and find out that you have lied, matching your eyes will be the least of the punishments I will hurl at you. Do you understand?" "Y-yes, sire." "Good." He turned to the others. "You don't mind if I borrow him for a moment, do you?" Kelin asked: "Where do you plan to go with him?" "Transferring ship from one's command to another can be complicated sometimes. But if he is sincere in his new intents, I am sure he can help streamline this process. Don't you agree?" Others had a look of uncertainty on their faces. They reluctantly agreed to Rosch's plan. He promised to return back so he and Bikke left in the direction of the port.
Trust in Bikke had managed to pay off. His old pirate ship, the Blazing Fury, has been officially transferred over to the Warriors of Light. More specifically, to Rosch. It has been officially registered at the newly created City Council so that it can enter other ports without the worry of retaliation or seizure. The newly christened Sea Queen was an argosy that used to belong to a merchant before it was captured by Bikke and his crew. With the great load capacity it was widely used as a cargo ship and it even had decent cannon protection against pirates. Unfortunately, they have been superseded as the main threat on Aldean Sea. Monsters have greatly multiplied across the sea and their small size made it easier to get on the ship before they could be shot down with cannons. This has proven to be a bigger problem than expected. As it turned out, Bikke's crew was the last crew that remained in Pravoka. Other ones had disappeared or confirmed lost on the sea. So after Bikke was defeated, the citizens rose up and re-established the city-state now free of pirates.
As gratitude towards their liberators, Council wanted to reward the heroes with part of the pirates' loot. All four of them refused the offer after seeing the condition of the city. The citizens could have used that money more. Instead they laid out 3 requests as their rewards. One, See Queen is to be officially registered as a ship belonging to Pravoka, including flying under its flag. Two, the city is to provide a wagon and a wagon driver as a way to carry their supplies. Three, Rosch is to be granted an option of potentially joining the City Council and be granted one of the seats there. The first two were reasonable. Warriors of Light would need a ship to travel across the Aldean Sea and the commandeered pirate ship solved that issue without any need for the city to help out. Additional bonus was that these heroes would sail under the city's flag, re-establishing the city's reputation and getting new potential trades out of it. But the third one was very unusual so the councilmen decided to probe further. They were very surprised to find out the truth. Rosch De Velarie was the second son of Mardonius De Velarie, the Viscount of Southport. He had the official letter of introduction from his father and his family crest emblazoned on his coat to confirm his identity. After this revelation the last request got approved. As the second son of the noble family, he was less likely to inherit his father's position so he needed to earn a name for himself.
The promised wagon and the driver was quickly provided. The party met their new companion, an old dwarf named Sead Steelpelt. They were a bit surprised to see him as their designated driver, but a quick talk calmed them down. Their new comrade used to be a merchant by trade, but his legs were injured during an ambush. His injuries are yet to properly heal as he can't afford the required treatment and his debts aren't helping that at all. So he took this job and received a year's payment for it. As he finished the explanation he asked the party on what his orders were. The party looked at each other and with single nod among them Kelin ordered him to guard their belongings only. With his injuries he would only be a liability on the battlefield and they didn't want his blood on their hands. Besides, he will be far more useful as a trader and a guard over the party's loot.
With their new companion in tow, the party went east of the city for a short mission. An ogre appeared with a small group of goblins and was causing chaos in the nearby villages. The party was quickly dispatched. This mission wouldn't have been any notable if Rosch's sword didn't break in ogre's body. It seemed after so much fighting the weapons were in a bad shape so after returning back to the city they went to a weapon's shop. In exchange for some materials that they have brought back, the party was granted free repair on their weapons which Mari and Kelin accepted. Rosch decided to replace his sword for a scimitar. Meanwhile, Lewyn sold his battered nunchakus and haven't replaced them at all. At the questioning of his companions he said he will just go unarmed from now on. Said it was easier and cheaper. That wasn't exactly a satisfactory answer for others, but Lewyn remained unmoved by their pleas so they had to drop this. As for the rest of their funds, they have decided to spend them on new magic books for Mari and Rosch, a leather shield for Kelin and leather gloves for everyone. Both Mari and Rosch had spent a day studying the magic books that they have acquired. While they have shown potential for higher level magic, they only received books for slightly more powerful magic. Mari took Invis, Silence and Blindna while Rosch took Temper, Blizzard and Dark as his spells.
One week after the fall of Bikke's pirates, all 4 Warriors of Light finally had the opportunity to see their new ship. With the agreement between Rosch and the crew, who were mostly slaves captured in raids, they were granted freedom, but continued to work on the ship with better conditions and a living wage. The ship itself didn't need much work. Just the city flag of the white trident on the dark blue background and the official coat-of-arms of the De Velarie family. A crow holding a ring on red and white background. As the last supplies were boarded in, the party was met with a nice surprise. Their wagon could be disassembled and carried on-board the Sea Queen so Sead could be brought along. With everything done, all that was left was to set sail. First stop, Southport.