The night after encountering the crow, three men sat quietly in a small, windowless room in the middle of Franta's safehouse. Other pirates roamed the halls of the house, a total of 12 armed men.
Though the three men felt protected, they didn't feel safe. How could they when the pitter patter of rain striking the roof of the building echoed throughout the room. The words the crow spoke in the alleyway played back in their minds, adding to their fear.
"Rain is here."
The cackling voice of the crow seemed to sprout from the air itself, interrupting the men's thoughts. Before the pirates even had time to process the words, the room began to change. The ground seemed to melt, revealing a hole in the ground. The pirates stared in terror as a gloved hand emerged from the hole, grasping the edge of the hole. A figure dressed in black robes and mask climbed from the hole, laughing as it stared at the pirates.
With a scream of terror, the youngest pirate turned and sprinted to the door, throwing it open as he ran into the hallway. The other two pirates quickly turned to follow, sprinting one behind the other towards the exit. As they reached the doorway, a click rang out from the masked figure's gloved arm.
A burst of gas tore through the two pirates, blood exploding out the doorway and spraying the wall opposite the exit. The two pirates collapsed on the ground, dead instantly. The masked figure disappeared as the two pirates lay dead.
Elsewhere in the safehouse, the young pirate sprinted out of the building, his hallucinations hiding the other pirates in the safe house from his view. Thinking himself to be alone, the man ran straight out the front door, leaving it unlocked and open behind him. The man continued running into the city, trying to put as much distance between himself and the terrifying masked figure as possible.
***
Back at the safehouse, the dozen or so pirates remaining ran to the central room where the three pirates had stayed. The pirates stared in shock at the two dead bodies in the doorway. How had someone snuck past them to do this?
With all the guards distracted, and the door left wide open, Morn crept through the entrance. Vaihniir poured from beneath his robes, filling the hallways with dense black fog. The pirates gathered around the two corpses, watching as the fog poured towards them. They quickly raised their gas revolvers, miniature crossbows, or whatever other weapons they carried, aiming down the hallway towards the fog.
As the fog reached them, filling their lungs, they saw a figure dressed in black robes emerge from the fog. Prepared, the pirates opened fire on the figure, drowning him in bullets and crossbow quarrels. The figures quickly relaxed as the figure collapsed into the fog. But their fear ignited once again as the figure appeared in their midst!
"Kill him! One of the pirates shouted."
The rest drew their knives or sabres, slashing and hacking at the robed figure who quickly succumbed to their blows- only to reappear once again amongst them. This continued, the pirates unknowingly hacking each other to pieces as Morn stood calmly around the corner.
Every time the pirates felled a hallucination, they were killing one of their allies who Morn had disguised as himself. When they killed their ally, he made them hallucinate a full crowd of people to those who remained, making it appear like their allies were still alive.
If the pirates had stopped to think about it, the hallucination would have easily unravelled as they would notice their allies appearing in inconsistent locations; however, their fear and adrenaline caused them to completely ignore the inconsistencies, feeding into the hallucination Morn crafted.
When only one pirate remained, Morn stepped around the corner, quickly finishing off the pirate with a single round from his Folia Lance. In under two minutes, 14 pirates had been killed without ever truly seeing their attacker.
Morn then took one of the pirate's knives, beginning the brutal task of cutting off an ear from each of the pirates as proof of bounty. Normally, this wouldn't be evidence enough, but as there was a bounty office nearby, the bounty administration could simply investigate the corpses, finding that the ears Morn turned in matched.
While he went about the task, Morn kept one eye closed. In his mind's eye, he watched through the eyes of the pirate who had run off.
The pirate sprinted through the city, drenched from the rain. He stopped in front of a small building with smoke coming from the chimney. He pounded on the door anxiously. After a moment of staring nervously into the dark streets around him, the door opened. The pirate spoke unintelligibly, his mouth moving faster than his brain. The man who opened the door pulled the pirate inside, shutting the door behind him.
The man dragged the pirate to another room where a few men sat around a low table playing dice. Piles of Dowel lay on the table, enough money to buy a small cottage. A particular man looked up from the dice, his expression showing displeasure. Morn recognized the man to be the captain of the crew who's safehouse he was currently standing in, Captain Franta…
***
…Captain Franta looked up from his dice, seeing one of his crew soaked through with rain water standing before him.
"What is it, Harlen. I already allowed you to stay in the safe room, what more could you and your two friends want."
Leaning back against the couch, Franta stared at the pirate, waiting for a response. After an awkward few seconds of silence, the pirate stuttered a reply.
"C-c-captain Franta, sir! A robed man appeared in the safe house- he was wearing a black mask! He crawled from the ground, the fucking ground! I told you something was coming, I told you! You have to hurry back, the crew could be in danger!"
Franta scoffed, "You expect me to believe a masked man crawled out of the ground in the middle of my safehouse? You're out of your mind. If you want to spin tales, you're relieved from your position. Go join the minstrels and weave your stories there."
The pirate stared blankly at Franta for a moment, then tears began to fall from his eyes as he collapsed to his knees.
"Sir- you… you have to believe me! He's coming, the masked man, the Rain! He could appear at any moment, you have to do something!" The pirate pleaded weakly.
With a heavy sigh, Franta looked to the man who let the pirate in the house.
"Ron, escort Harlen out of here and ensure he knows to never come back."
As the man bent to pull the pirate to his feet, he suddenly recoiled, taking several steps back. Blood sprayed across the floor as a hole appeared in the pirate's back. The pirate collapsed to the side, dead.
Franta, Ron, and the others who were gambling stared wide eyed at the corpse. He had died so suddenly and with such force, the group was shaken. A minute passed before Franta moved, leaping to his feet. Without a word, he rushed out the door, into the rain.
Some time later, he arrived in front of his safehouse, the door wide open. With a look of fear in his eyes, he drew his sabre and walked into the building. Following a set of bloody footprints, he arrived at the central hallway. His legs shook and he fell to the floor. A pile of bodies, the corpses of his crew, filled the hallway around the central room. With a terrified shriek, Franta fainted.
***
Morn walked through the dark streets of Tyrvoh, illuminated occasionally by the dim glow of gas lamps, a small sack clutched in his gloved left hand. Finally, he stopped in front of a large, well constructed building. A sign at the top read 'Bounty Administration Office.'
With a push of the door, Morn strolled into the office, still wearing the black mask. A well dressed clerk sat behind a counter at the back of the room. The man looked up from a pile of papers in his hands, smiling at Morn as he entered.
"Hi there, welcome to the Bounty Administration Office. Will you be registering a bounty, or turning in a bounty?"
Morn stopped across the counter from the clerk. With a dull thud, the bag fell from his hand onto the counter. Wordlessly, he stared at the clerk. Not seeming to mind Morn's silence, the man donned a pair of gloves and opened the bag. Unphased, he began to count out loud.
"...12, 13, 14 left ears. I see you were busy!" The clerk chuckled before continuing, "Now where might our investigator find the rest of these poor folks?"
In the low tone he had adopted for his persona, Morn replied slowly, "Captain Franta's safehouse. There should be another, a man named Harlen. I'm sure Franta will be able to show you his body."
The clerk nodded amiable, "Very well, we will send an investigator immediately. When we've confirmed the bounties, you will receive your reward. Did you want to receive the payment in Dowel, or as a bounty increase?"
Behind his mask, Morn furrowed his brows. Although he needed money, he figured that waiting around in town wouldn't be a good idea. It would be better to have a bounty started for Rain, that way his 'legend' would have something substantial to back it besides the story of Franta's crew, and he wouldn't have to wait to receive his payment in Dowel.
"Bounty increase." Morn replied.
The clerk smiled, then rung a bell. A moment later, a tall woman dressed in a crimson cloak with the words "Bounty Investigator" embroidered on the back emerged from a door at the side of the room. She walked to the desk, then left after being told the situation and receiving the bag of ears.
Turning back to Morn, the clerk clapped his hands, "For the bounty increase, we will need your name, sir."
"Rain." Morn replied briskly.
"It seems there is currently no bounty for someone named 'Rain.' When the investigator has finished and we've confirmed the identities of the deceased, their bounties will be transferred to yours. Thank you for your visit, sir Rain. Have a lovely night."
With a curt nod, Morn left the Bount Administration Office, then ran down the streets, heading for the cliffs. When he arrived at the cliffside, he donned the clawed gauntlets used to climb island cliffs, then made his way down to a small ledge near the water.
A black fog spread across the water, forming the ship. This time, when he summoned it, he willed it to be painted black. Additionally, the name "Yahv-entah Shyalaam" appeared in white on the side of the ship, a Manthalan name meaning a Sea of clouds.
With the ship summoned, Morn dropped from the ledge onto the deck. He walked to the captain's cabin and moved the Ship-figurine on the map to a random area in the sea about an hour's travel from his current location. With the location set, Morn stripped off his mask and collapsed into the captain's chair. His whole body felt like it was burning from the inside, the after effects of using so much Vaihniir in such a short time.
With his body aching, Morn rested his head on his arms atop the captain's desk, then promptly fell asleep.