Despite being in danger, Garrick was surprisingly lost in thought, thinking about whether it was a coincidence that Vyn picked this particular sea captain or whether it was all planned for a purpose. Regardless, the time for thinking was over as a burly half-orc sailor walked up, towering over him and grabbing his shirt tightly, ripping it.
Even if wrong, quick decisions will still be more effective in a crisis than overthinking a grand plan.
Using his palm, Garrick hits the elbow of the half-orc, grabbing his shirt, snapping his arm, pushing the bone through as he screams in pain, followed up by a kick to the half-orcs knee as it breaks backwards with an audible crunch, collapsing to the ground, falling on top of his broken leg, screaming bloody murder.
The bar stops briefly, seeing Garrick's eyes pierce through his bloodied visage, eyeing them all up with anticipation. What comes after could only be considered a brawl. Despite being outnumbered over a dozen to one, Garrick steps over the broken and screaming patron, still shaky from the glass smashed on his head, ready for action.
The next contender isn't as stupid, learning from the mistakes of his friend as he picks up a chair and launches it at Garrick, who covers up as it smashes against him, moving his arms afterwards only for his nose to meet the fist of the sailor who threw the chair causing Garrick to stumble back, but not without retaliation.
Grabbing the sailor's wrist, Garrick pulls him closer, making sure he can't escape and headbutts his nose with clenched, bloodied teeth, smashing it into pieces. The sailor stumbles forward, dazed, and with lightning movements, Garrick pushes the sailor's mouth onto the edge of the bartop and elbows his face into it, his teeth shattering as he gurgles his blood as it pours across the counter. Garrick steps forward as he blows the blood out his nose and raises his hand, inviting the next unlucky soul to meet their fate.
What came next was the brawl, as the rest of the patrons all charged at once, and while he dodged some, Garrick couldn't avoid them all, fighting viciously around the bar, breaking tables and chairs, a mix of blood, sweat, and tears covered the bar as Garrick slowly got beaten down, turned black and blue from the assault. All the while, Garrick was still conscious, still deciding if he should use his 'aspect buffing: strength' and just punch a hole through the chest of these fools. But Garrick knows a broken bone is one thing to the guards, but death is something else, and Garrick doesn't need that trouble. However, letting himself be killed isn't acceptable, and he'd be willing to kill anyone to save himself if required.
After a few minutes, the fighting is finished, with Garrick kneeling, being held up by his arms by the patrons. The bar is a complete mess, with most of the furniture broken and splintered and six of the patrons lying in bloody heaps, either sobbing or shouting in pain.
"You made some mess. Should have just given us what we wanted, 'cause now we're going to need more," the bartender angrily says as she signals the patron, who grabs a knife from their boot and walks over to Garrick with eyes filled with soon-to-be murder.
Garrick would need to kill now, despite his efforts to avoid it, but before he can say the words to activate his aspect buffing, a loud commotion is heard outside, followed by the bar doors being smashed open by one of the patrons being thrown through it colliding Into the broken furniture unconscious. A man walks into the doorway wearing strange clothes, even for a pirate, with long black hair and a bushy black beard, with pieces of food still stuck there from days ago.
"I seem to be interrupting your little shindig. Is this your friend?" The unknown man enters the bar, and Kyra enters through the door behind him.
"Yeah, that's the idiot getting ganged up on; you were right." Kyra snarkily replies.
"Well, people know not to use my name too much. They tend to end up like your friend, and this shithole bar was the closest one, so lucky us. How about we even the odds a little, hmm?"
"DEX! YOU OWE ME MONEY, YOU THIEF!" The bartender roars with hatred as she slams her fists on the bar top.
"I have never seen you before, you ugly, stumpy dwarf. You must have me confused with someone else; my name is Robert, not Dex." Dex sarcastically replies, much to the dismay of the bartender.
"YOU-YOU-ARE YOU GONNA JUST STAND THERE?! FUCKING GET HIM!!" The bartender screeches with ire, infuriated beyond belief.
Before the sailors can step forward, Kyra moves into the bar and summons vines that break through the floor and wrap around the patrons, entangling them as Dex's crew rush into the bar and begin fighting with the ensnared patrons. Renewed with vigour, Garrick pulls his arms together as the two patrons holding his arms clatter their heads together and collapse on the ground. After a brief whirlwind of fighting, they run out of the bar, but not before Garrick picks up a stool and throws it at the bartender, hitting her clearly on the head and knocking her out cold.
Outside, they run around a corner and catch their breath, out of sight.
"Quite the way to first meet, Garrick, but I'd expect no less from a friend of Dex Bartholemew!" Dex triumphantly roars as he realigns his pirate hat. "This here is some of my crew, you lot, get to the ship on the double!"
"YES CAP'N!!!" The half a dozen crew members rush away towards the docks, where the ships lay anchored in the water.
"You realise I was in that mess cause of you, right?" Garrick snotters out the last remnants of blood as he rubs his jaw.
"Ahh, well, let's not point fingers since we'll never know for sure!" Dex chuckles, slapping Garrick on the back.
"Pretty sure I remember the bartender saying she did it 'cause you didn't pay your bar tab, and I'm supposedly your 'friend'."
"Don't bother, Garrick. This guy is missing a few screws," Kyra interjects while shaking her head.
"Already at that part of the friendship, it's beautiful. You've got a big mouth and smell pretty awful!!" Dex chuckles, slapping Kyra on the back. "Follow me to the ship!" Dex trots away as Garrick and Kyra share an unsettling defeatist look.
"Vyn's dead when we get back for hiring the cheapest son of a bitch ship captain there is," Kyra angrily mumbles through gritted teeth.
"I'm on your side; that skeleton with wrinkles is dead meat," Garrick says with a long sigh.
They follow Dex for some time as he happily skips along the docks, now and then watching him dive behind a crate or upturned rowboat to hide from what Garrick and Kyra assume to be debtors or maybe just someone he pissed off, which sounds more understandable as the seconds pass by. Eventually, Dex stops in front of a ship that has seen better days. A battered and bruised ship with mismatched planks used for repairs and sails much the same, with big squares of fabric used to fill in the holes of damage suffered.
"Welcome friends to your new home, my ship, The Maelstrom Voyage!"
With his eyes closed, Dex roars with pride, arms outstretched and filled with happiness, while Garrick and Kyra stare at a lunatic gushing over a dilapidated boat. Dex peeks out an eye after the non-reactions from them.
"You two must be so impressed by my ship that all words have left your body. Such a ship has that effect on people!" Despite being a few feet away, Dex still roars every word as he sprints away. "Follow me, scalleywags!"
"I bet it does," Garrick replies, but Dex is long gone to hear his snarky words.
"I'm kinda glad the Gnome isn't here. I have a feeling those two nutcases would get on like a house on fire." Kyra shakes her head with bewilderment as they both step onto the gangway, making their way onto the ship.
The crew works hard, preparing the ship for cast off. Many of the tasks done by the crew are foreign to Garrick and Kyra, who spent their entire lives on solid ground. After ten minutes of hasty work, with many crates brought aboard, scrubbing and cleaning, and last-minute bodge jobs to fix anything broken or ripped, the anchor is raised, and the rope is untied from the cleat as the ship slowly begins to float away from Volmyr.
Garrick and Kyra stand, leaning against the side of the boat, the crew still hard at work performing their duties, even Dex, who is focused and ordering his crew with a booming voice, with a foreign accent, that Garrick and Kyra can't place where it's from.
"Might've been a good idea to invite Grensyl along; in this ship of escape asylum patients, he'd have been good to have," Kyra says as she looks out to the sea.
"I thought about it, but I decided against it. Hjalthor is gonna be a bloody place, and he doesn't fight to kill, let alone fight, so it didn't make sense to ask him. I should've seen him in the Inn while he was in Volmyr. Things were too hectic, and I barely had a chance to rest. I'll find him when we return and buy him a drink for all his help."
The ship gets a hundred feet out to sea, and Dex walks down from the helm to Garrick and Kyra.
"Well, how you liking the ship? It's a reliable ship that seen me and my crew through a lot of trouble." Dex stomps on the ship's deck, causing his foot to break through. He pulls his foot up quickly with embarrassment. "Hey, who broke this?! Fix this up right now!" Dex bellows to his crew.
"YES CAP'N!!" The crew replies.
"Your crew really respect you, Dex-"
"Yeah, how did a lunatic like you manage to get anyone to serve under you?!" Kyra interjects, cutting off Garrick and voicing her opinion without a care.
"I'm just the best at what I do! Hey, did you know I was rated the most handsome sea captain of Volmyr?" Dex cheerily voices as his cheeks go a rosy red with embarrassment.
"Well, that's a lie," Kyra says.
"Definitely a lie. Didn't even try to make it sound believable." Garrick adds.
"Well, it was a poll given to my crew...by me, but that's beside the point! I'm number one!" Dex clears his throat.
A swirling purple portal suddenly opens from above as Meetle falls through, crashing onto the ship deck. Vyn pokes his head through the portal.
"Oh, I was off a little. Must've been too far away. Oops!" Vyn retracts his head, and the portal disappears.
"Meetle?!" Garrick and Kyra shout in confusion simultaneously.
"ALIEN! ALIEN, BOYS!! AND IT'S GOT A BIG NOSE!! WAY TOO BIG!!!" Dex screams with fear as Meetle stands up, rubbing his side.
"Hey, what a cool ship this is!" Meetle opens his eyes wide at the grand ship, something he hasn't ever stepped foot on before either, gaining the immediate notice of Dex.
"PROMOTED!! PROMOTED!!!" Dex points at Meetle, his finger jabbing into Meetle's nose. "You have exquisite taste, my good man. You will be my Fifty-eighth in command!"
Meetle's eyes glimmer with excitement. "Oh, my!!"
"How many crew you got on this ship, Dex?" Garrick curiously asks.
"Sixty in total!" Dex replies as he looks at the stump arm of Meetle. "Normally, it's the leg pirates try to lose, but the arm works, too!"
"Are Kyra and I included in that total?" Garrick asks with scepticism.
"...Yes, but that's beside the point! Come with me, little Gnome. I am Dex, and this ship is called the Maelstrom Voyage." Dex pulls Meetle away and speaks energetically to him. "Did you know I was voted the most handsome ship captain in Volmyr?"
"Really?! Such a prestigious award, too! Well done, Captain Dex!" Meetle replies with astonishment.
Garrick and Kyra stare at each other, realising this trip will be a nightmare before they even reach Hjalthor.
And so begins the first major arc of my story. I hope you all enjoy it!
End Chapter