When Morn had first arrived on the island, he had assumed the ship had led him to the wrong location, as all of the signs in the town had said 'Tyrvoh'. He quickly came to realise that he was in the right location, it had just been renamed. Morn had then bought a new map of Palk for half a line, no longer willing to rely on Oscairo's clearly outdated map.
After familiarising himself with Palk's topography, Morn had found his way to the city square. Though he knew little of Palk's geography, he knew a decent amount about its culture. As an island run by pirates, crime was celebrated here. In each city, the pirate who lorded over the place, known as the Finger, would post the bounties of the pirates who lived there.
Anyone with a bounty matching the Finger's subordinates could request to challenge the subordinate to a duel. If they won, they would join the Finger's crew. Similarly, if the Finger's bounty ever reached the level of the Hand, the ruler of Palk, they would be able to challenge the Hand to a duel. If they won, they would replace the Hand, who would then become the ambassador of the island, handling inter-island politics in the Hand's place. The former ambassador would then fill in for the Finger who was promoted to Hand.
The smaller villages were either communally ruled, or protected by a 'Nail', a subordinate of the Finger closest to the village. The village would then pay a tax to the Nail, who would pay a portion to the Finger, who would pay a portion to the Hand. Overall, Palk's political structure was decided by infamy and strength.
As Palk was part of the GMIS, pirate activities were protected to an extent, so long as they didn't target ships bearing protected flags- usually the military or trade vessels of an island's government. Private companies were under no such protection, a stipulation which Palk had fought for when joining the GMIS.
The bounties were placed by private companies who had been robbed by pirates, they were posted through the Bounty administration- a system which had actually been setup by a Palk ambassador several centuries ago. The bounties on a specific pirate would add together, being funded by all of their victims. Any who returned the head of a bountied pirate would receive the reward directly from the Bounty administration, whose offices were present in most major cities across Malsata.
In Palk, pirates could even claim the bounties of other pirates- though they would have to have a strong backing, or be fearless in the face of retaliation from the hunted pirate's crew. A pirate could also choose to have the bounty money added to their own bounty under the name of the deceased, rather than claiming the money.
As there was no fixed penalty for killing a bountied pirate in Palk, Morn wasn't worried about the consequence of hunting pirates on the island. The only retaliation would come from the pirate's crew, and as long as he maintained his identity as Rain, he should be fine. After all, what business would enemies of Rain have with him, Morn? Additionally, the blatant hunting would even benefit his image, perhaps filling pirates with terror at his name- or as Oscairo mentioned, at the sound of rainfall.
With the climate of Llairbylge, Palk often experienced rainfall. At least in short bursts, if not in week-long storms. With his targets decided, Morn only needed to wait for the next bout of rain before beginning his first hunt. Of course, he could cause his targets to hallucinate rainfall and kill then kill two of them right and leave the last alive to spread his name- but he had a bigger plan for his first hunt, something that would bring even more terror to his future victims.
With his targets picked, Morn simply waited. At midnight, Morn's targets left the pub. A minute later, Morn stood from his table and trailed the men from afar. After a few minutes of walking, the men turned off the main road into an alleyway between two rows of houses.
Morn, as quietly as he could, crept closer to the pirates from behind. Luckily, their drunkenness dulled their senses, hiding his footsteps from their ears. When he was within a few metres of the men, Morn focused on controlling his Vaihn. Soon, a black fog poured from beneath his robes, filling the narrow alley and enveloping the pirates.
As soon as the pirates inhaled the fog, hallucinations began to bloom in their minds, completely under Morn's control. The men turned around, looking for the source of the fog, unaware that they were already in a hallucination. Morn used his powers to cause them to hallucinate an empty alley, effectively making himself invisible to the pirates. Terrified, the pirates huddled close together in the fog, back to back. One of the pirates, a bald middle aged man with a thick beard and a crooked nose, drew a knife, pointing it out into the fog as he called out:
"Who's there, who's doing this!? We work for Captain Franta, you should know who he is! If you so much as harm us, he'll have your bounty by morning!"
After manipulating their hallucinations to hide his low laughter, Morn calmed himself. Then, once again using their hallucination, he made a crow land in the alley. When the pirates looked at the crow nervously, he controlled it. The crow opened its beak, speaking in a cackling tone.
"When the clouds turn grey, Rain will come. When rain next falls, so will you."
Staring speechlessly, the pirates trembled as they watched the crow fly off into the night, disappearing into the sky. A moment later, the fog disappeared, leaving the pirates alone in the empty alley. Morn retreated around the corner, returning to the inn for the night. In the alley, the hallucinations retreated into the pirates' minds, dormant for now. With the fog gone, the knife wielding pirate finally regained his composure, though his hand still shook as he sheathed his knife.
"What the hell was that?!" The bald man spoke nervously, looking at his companions.
The other two, a slightly younger man with curly red hair, and an exceedingly tall man with greying hair and a receding hairline, began to panic.
"I-I don't know! But that crow- it… it said we'll fall! It was an omen, an omen I tell you! We're all gonna die!" The young man ran a hand through his hair, stress evident in his twisted expression.
"He's right!" The man with grey hair shouted back, "We need to get back to the safe house now, the boss can protect us!"
Without waiting for the bald man to reply, the two took off down the alleyway, sobered by their fear. The bald man quickly followed behind his crewmates, all headed for their boss' safehouse.
***
In the inn, Morn sat on his rented bed, his eyes closed. In his mind's eye, he watched through the eyes of the pirates as they arrived in a small building near the edge of town. When the pirates had believed the crow to be real, they had met the conditions for his hallucination to be planted dormant in their minds. Now, he could reactivate their hallucinations at any time, and even use his connection to the hallucination seed to read their surface level thoughts, and see through their eyes.
After watching the pirates recount their encounter to their boss, Morn opened his eyes, no longer viewing through their eyes. Now, he would just have to wait for the next rainfall. Then, he could cause the hallucinations to bloom, and make the pirates hallucinate Morn in his mask and outfit.
If they believed the hallucination to be real, he could then take control of the hallucination version of himself and kill his targets. Of course, the hallucination version of himself was slightly weaker than the real him, but he figured it would be enough to deal with a common pirate, and even if he failed, he would just need to plant a new hallucination and try again.
After looking outside to make sure there were no signs of rain within the next few hours, Morn laid back in bed to get some rest for the night. As he waited for sleep to overcome him, Morn lay in his bed, thinking about the limits of his Vaihn spell.
'With the strain I'm feeling from keeping three hallucinations stored, it seems like four or five hallucination seeds is my limit. It also seems my hallucinations can only be as strong as I am, if not a bit weaker. I wonder if it's because I only became a Leviathan recently, or if my level won't improve until I consume more Vaihn hearts. Hopefully I can improve through practice. Though my hallucinations worked well on those pirates, I doubt things will be so simple when facing another Leviathan…'