The party proceeded down the steps to the next level of the ship. As they descended, Garus got one final glimpse of Tenatus, the manticore, being wrangled by some of the other sailors. They were struggling immensely with the large beast. Tenatus himself seemed content to gnaw on a rather large bone he had found somewhere in his journeys. As they entered the first lower level, Garus was astonished at the size of the Desert Winds. Limgren did not have much of a navy to speak of, given that the main part of Limgren was encapsulated in a wall surrounded by a treacherous swamp, but the little ships they did have were small, made mainly for speed and agility rather than for actual naval purposes. The Desert Winds was at least five times larger than any boat he had ever been on, to the point that Garus seriously wondered how the vessel managed to float. The first level below the deck was a large open area stretching from the bow to the stern of the ship with doors and wooden walls that closed on a portion on both ends. In the main portion of this large area were many barrels and chairs along with a makeshift bar with shelves that held many drinks swaying with the waves of the sea.
"This is the first level we call 'Thalassa's Beard.' It is where we mainly store different provisions for the journey ahead, as well as this area will be filled with about 60 drunken sailors come nightfall. Most of the sailors spend the beginning hours of the night drinking and singing after a hard day's work, so do not expect to head to bed early," Prometheus said. The words were music to Garus's ears.
"I have been known to be quite the entertainer at a tavern or two," Garus said.
"I am sure that the sailors would be excited to have a new musician to lead them. The men love singing, but if we are being honest, they are not very proficient at it," Prometheus said.
"Wow Prometheus, you are more fun than I thought. Having a bar on your first deck, I approve," Qrow smirked as he spoke, "It partly reminds me of my own bar back in Fearsh. If the men need a good bartender, then you are lucky to have me aboard."
"We are not here to form the best tavern on the seas," Rijin interjected, "Revelry is good for the downtime, but let us focus on the mission ahead."
"Hey, Rijin," Qrow tapped on Rijin's large arm, "Does being a goliath mean that instead of a stick up your butt, it's more like a tree?" Lia chuckled at Qrow's words; Rijin was less amused.
"We are going to be on this ship for Gods know how long, and most of this time is going to be physical and psychological warfare; we need to find some place to…refresh our minds," as Qrow said as he held up a bottle of ale that seemingly came from nowhere. Prometheus noticed that one of the bottles was missing from the shelves behind the bar. Prometheus quickly walked over and snatched the bottle from Qrow's hand.
"While you may be a guest on this ship, you are expected to pay just like everyone else," Prometheus walked over and put the bottle back. Qrow snickered, then pulled out a second bottle and showed it to Lia. Garus rolled his eyes.
The party proceeded down to the next floor. This floor was different from the previous. Instead of being a large open area, it consisted of many hallways that led off to the side and down the length of the ship. However, the hallways were numerous as well as had doors attached to each wall even though there was not enough room for there to be anything behind the door other than the next hallway. The entire floor looked like a labyrinth of walls and doors.
"This is the main quarters; every crew member on the ship has their own room as well as anyone else staying on the ship stays in the guest wing," Prometheus said. The party looked at him confused.
"I'm sorry, this is the main quarters?" Garus asked; he wrapped his wings around his body to warm himself up. It was unexpectedly cold in this area.
"There are not really any rooms," Lia also said.
"What do you mean there are no rooms?" Prometheus looked just confused as the rest of the group.
"Guys, isn't it obvious," Qrow said, shaking his head disapprovingly. He walked over towards one of the doors and began to lay against it. He settled in for a moment and then closed his eyes. He pretended to snore loudly and profusely just to add to the effect. Prometheus walked over to the door Qrow was leaning on and turned the handle to it then pushed the door open. Qrow stumbled for a moment then fell through the door, but surprisingly he did not just fall onto the floor on the other side; it was like he disappeared altogether. Garus ran over towards the door, astonished at the disappearing act. Instead of seeing the other hallway through the door, the door led to an entire room with Qrow laying on the ground after falling through the door. Garus was amazed.
"All of the doors on this floor are enchanted to lead to rooms that exist in a pocket dimension. When building this ship, I wanted to make enough space for a lot of people so instead of doing many small rooms or a smaller amount of large rooms, I decided to do both," Prometheus said. Qrow lifted himself up from the floor and gave a thumbs up.
"Very clever," Qrow said.
"Let me show you to the guest quarters," Prometheus walked down a hallway that led along the right side of the ship followed by the others. Some of the doors on the hallway were already open, and different sailors and servants were bringing luggage into the doorways. Garus noticed one of his attendants and walked to the door they were bringing his things into. The room itself was very nice and spacious; it was put together like any other room in a ship's cabin but was a little bit larger to accommodate the larger amounts of luggage. The main feature of the room was a large window that peered out into a starry night along dark calm waves.
"How can these rooms have windows?" Garus asked.
"They actually don't," Prometheus answered, "The windows are simply pieces of glass with an illusion depicted upon them. You can actually change the image to be anything you want. I always found this to be the most calming," Prometheus walked over and pressed a small metal device on the wall next to the large indented window. When he pressed the device, the image on the window faded, and a blank white void appeared instead.
"That is incredible, how does it work?" Garus asked.
"It is fairly simple to operate; just touch the switch and put a little bit of magical energy into it. Whatever you are thinking of when you do so will appear on the window," Prometheus walked out of the room to tend to other things. Garus touched the switch on the wall and let a semblance of magical energy flow through it. In an instant, the window showed the image from the top of Mount Uldrak, the mountain that housed most of the people of Limgren. Garus smiled, happy to have a piece of home with him.
Garus looked through his things for a moment, making sure everything was accounted for. Everything was where it was supposed to be, but strangely he found a small piece of parchment inside his satchel that he would carry various objects and magical catalysts in. He opened the parchment and found it to be a letter from his mother. The letter read:
Garus, I know we are at odds at the moment, but everything I have done has been done with the intention of looking after you. You may not believe that, but it is true. I am sure you are well aware of how against this council I truly am, but let me state that my reasons are not as arbitrary as you may believe.
Garus's blood began to boil. His mother had never truly cared for his safety in most circumstances and then decided to produce an ultimatum that would cause war around the world in his name. Garus did not know how the month of preparation went for others, but for him, it was preparation without his mother. Garus hated her influence; he hated her rule; he hated the way she hid behind her 'solemn duty' as an excuse to let cruelty reign throughout their kingdom. His mother had never truly been a mother to him, and he was not going to randomly trust her words now, but in spite of this, Garus continued to read on.
The first and foremost reason is the fear of what people may learn about you and the curse of our…
Garus's eyes flared red for a moment, and Garus sang a deep, guttural note from the bottom of his throat, and the letter combusted in his hand. An intense anger rose up in him. How could she think it was a good idea to write about this? Garus thought to himself. Garus knew his mother to be many things, but sloppy and reckless was not one of them. As Garus watched the paper burn to a crisp, and with it, his mother's rule over him, his friend and travel companion Nial walked into the room.
Nial looked at the paper burning in his hand and immediately knew what it could be. Garus hummed a different note, and the room grew quiet, too quiet, a thin clear veil appeared over the door as Garus's eyes glowed white.
"Speak freely," Garus said, "There is a zone of silence in the room."
"The Skutsamling, I am guessing?" Nial asked, "What did she want this time?"
Garus watched the fire begin to fade. "She tried to claim that her concern about joining the council was due to our curse." Nial became angry as well, and his nostrils flared. Nial pulled a small drum from his back and hit it once. A circle of faint energy came from the drum and formed a circle on the ground, creating a small black hole in the middle of the floor.
"Discard the letter; your mother's carelessness will not cost us our influence within the council," Nial said, "the Skutsamling is only scared of losing control over you. She fears the things you will learn and the decisions you will make."
Garus wiped the ashes from his hand, content to have disposed of the evidence. "She may be content to stay within Limgren and cry vengeance on the rest of the world, but I am not. The people of Limgren deserve to have the ability to leave our country, even with the curse," Garus said, clutching the dagger at his side, its energy pulsating under his palm. "I am the heir to Limgren. While I may not care about ruling, I do care about freedom," Garus said.
"I know that you have always viewed me as more of a friend rather than a subject, but even so, I want you to know that I, and the rest of the band, support you always," Nial said, "What kinda band does not follow the lead of their lead singer?" Garus smiled at the sentiment.
Garus noticed the other members of the party walked out of their rooms after putting their things in order and met in the hallway. Garus hummed the note once more, and the veil disintegrated.
"We will talk more later," Garus said. Nial nodded, and Garus joined the others in the hallway.
"If all of you are ready, we can head over to meet Daedalus," Prometheus says to the group.
"Who is Daedalus?" Rijin asks.
"The ship's blacksmith. He will be able to make any items or weapons we might need on our journey," Prometheus answered. Xerxean blacksmiths are known the world over. They have some of the most unique methods for crafting metal in the world. Xerxean swords that have come up on the black market in Limgren often are sold very quickly and for incredibly high prices. It is a saying in most of the world that 'the treasure of the desert is unbreakable'. Xerxean weapons also held multiple magical enchantments without being brittle, making their magical weapons the most powerful in the world. Garus has always found it ironic that a country considered primitive desert dwellers by most of the world created weapons of such innovation that even Midoku, the nation of magic, could not match them. The idea of getting gear made by a Xerxean blacksmith, and not just any blacksmith but the one on the ship of the heir to the country.
The party walked down another flight of stairs and came to a large hallway similar to the one on the previous floor. However, instead of many hallways, there was only one spanning the ship that had rooms coming off of it rather than just doors.
"Why does this floor only have one hallway of doors when the one above has many?" Qrow asked.
Prometheus opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Rijin. "Magical objects can only hold so many enchantments. Since the ship is large, it is able to hold a great many but when it comes down to it, the ship cannot hold enough magical energy to account for another floor like that and hold the other enchantments on it," Rijin answered.
"Yes," Prometheus said, "that is part of it, the other part is that many of these rooms focus on different kinds of magic. I call this the industry floor. Each room you see is dedicated to a different magical process. Forging magical weapons, creating potions, tinkering with arcane focuses, each room is already using such immense amounts of arcana that an enchantment to create a pocket dimension could not hold with everything else going on," Prometheus answered.
"So magic disrupts magic," Garus was fascinated. His magic had always been innate from birth so the works of the arcane were foreign to him. Magic was more of a feeling to him than a process like many wizards or artificers understood it to be. All he had to do was sing and magic came to life around him.
Prometheus took a second to answer, "In a way, yes. As far as we understand it magic is…jealous. It likes to be show off and be the prominent energy in the area for whatever spell it is creating. If more magical energy is there the magic almost competes with each other and dissipates. If a spell was used to create a pocket dimension for these rooms to exist in and then you had more advanced magical processes happening inside them it would cause the pocket dimension to collapse and the room would be cut off from existence."
Garus let out a big gulp; magic was more terrifying than he realized. He prepared more questions to ask, but Prometheus was already moving on to the next part of the tour. Prometheus opened the door to the first room on the left, and immediately a scalding heat was thrusted throughout the hallway. Garus's wings felt heavy under the heat. The heat was so intense that he did not know if anyone could actually be in this room. The other members of the party seemed astonished by the heat as well, except for Varithorn; he seemed perfectly fine. When Garus was finally able to see into the room, all he could see was an intense furnace with a small jacked man with a long white beard and scars running all up and down his arms hammering at something on an anvil. Garus knew that this man had to be Daedalus.