Eight days later, the Sea-Cow was nearing Navarone and I reminded myself that I was a paying passenger. I skipped out on helping the crew and watched the smudge on the horizon as it slowly grew into a continent. I still completed my 3 daily performances of the Song of Storms but the repetitive song had gone stale too. It lost its effect on the crew, though it stirred the wind enough to be useful.

I checked over my accumulated skills one last time.

---

General Skills

Swimming: 27

Diving: 18

Jester: 23

Fiddles: 19

Sailing: 6

Navigation: 2

---

Weapon Skills

Spearguns: 17

---

My skills weren’t exactly typical for a great warrior, but my body was changing to fit the part. Weeks in the sun had turned my usually pasty skin a dark and rich shade. I wasn’t exactly a bronzed adonis but I was getting there, especially with all the exercise and the lack of double cheeseburgers.

That was one thing I was starting to look forward to more than my visit to the adventurers guild. With the bonus Duncan promised for my help and the coin already in my pocket, my first order of business after landfall was to get some meat. I didn’t care if it was chicken, pork, mutton or something weird and exotic like camel. I just wanted to eat something other than fish and hard-tack. I’d even pay through the nose for some fresh produce at this point!

I saw the ships before I saw the city. Dozens of them were either going to or coming from a small gap in the rocky cliffs. They ranged from low, fat merchant ships like the Sea Cow, to one man fishing skiffs, to a gigantic floating fortress with three masts and a pair of imposing catapults.

“So no gunpowder”

I was pretty sure that was the case. Most of the ships that came through outset island were pretty lightly armed. The most common armament I had seen was something that looked like a ballista. It just seemed like a bad idea to be the strange foreigner with questions about the local military. Besides, if they didn’t know about gunpowder, that was a can of worms best left unopened.

“Wot's gunpowder then?” Asked Jerry casually. I thought I was alone at the bow of the ship, guess not.

“A spice from my homeland. It’s sooo hot that if there were any in Navarone, I’d be able to smell it by now.”

I was getting quicker with lies. It didn’t matter that it was an obvious lie. That was actually the whole point. It made it clear that I wasn’t going to share that information, but the joking delivery also suggested that it wasn’t a big deal. As I hoped, Jerry snorted and dropped the subject.

“Me and some o’ the boys are going to a pub after landfall and you’re coming with us.”

I just blinked stupidly at him for a moment. I wasn’t sure if this counted as an invitation or a kidnapping.

“Seein’ how you worked right ‘longside us and played your magic fiddle all the way here we wanted to show our appreciation.”

I was about to politely decline, offering to maybe catch up with them later, after a bath, a meal and a visit to the adventurers guild. Unfortunately, he cut off that avenue of escape by raising his voice.

“Gettin’ here two days early means we’re all getting fat bonuses tonight!”

The whole crew cheered when they heard that. It had been a popular if not the only topic of discussion among them for the last day and a half. They were practically salivating at the thought of all the booze coming their way. Now it would just be too awkward to decline all that positive mojo. I agreed to go with them for one drink. Just one. I made that point very clear.

After spending eight days cooped up with these dudes I just wanted to spend a little time on my own. I felt my plans slipping away from me and dread replaced my hopeful optimism as we drew closer to the cliffs.

The dark shadowy entrance swallowed us up. What looked like a small break in the cliffs was actually an enormous inlet. It must have been 300 feet wide at least, and seven hundred feet tall.

On the other side, a cavern extended into the distance. I’d never imagined anything like it. Aircraft hangars, sports stadiums, nothing I had ever experienced compared. It was the first time I truly felt like I was in another world.

Docks stood around the periphery and torches burned in the shadowy recesses of the cavern, but most of the activity was at its center. Clearly magical lifts rose from the ships anchored there without any visible means of support.

I watched the glowing discs rise and fall smoothly bringing people and cargo up to the city above. I felt an eager tension building in my chest. Soon I would ride one of those lifts up to the city above. For now, I stood near the bow while the crew rowed us across the cavern to a dock on the far side. It took an excruciatingly long time for Duncan to maneuver the ship into position but sailors were soon jumping onto the dock and catching the lines that were tossed after them. They tied up the ship and a gangplank dropped across the gap with a bang.

I stayed out of the way as the crew formed a line and started passing cargo up from the hold, across to the dock and into hand-carts. Jerry eventually called me over and I hopped over the railing instead of disturbing the sailors on the gangplank.

A notification surprised me the moment my feet touched the dock. I took it as a good omen.

---

You have successfully completed a week-long voyage by sea

+1 Luck

---

I helped to push the cart full of molasses down the street. The businesslike mood was quickly wearing thin as the small group of sailors got closer to their destination.

There wasn’t much light this far away from the cavern’s entrances. The rare torch was barely enough to keep the cart on the cobbled road and illuminate the tidy inns, provisioners, warehouses, drydocks, and a few bordellos.

It was very much a seedy underbelly that catered to the transient workforce and sailors who couldn’t be bothered to pay the fee for the lifts. Compared to Outset Island, it was the height of civilization.

We stopped beside a squat round building. A sign identified the shop as “The Hook & Lantern”. I couldn't read the alien runes but the name was easy enough to pick up from the sailors' conversation. The titular soot-blackened lantern hung from a hook above the door frame. Jerry went inside for a moment and I waited outside with the other sailors.

They put on a mean face and glared at anyone who came too close to our cart. They had the intimidation well in hand so I started people-watching. While the docks were alive with industry, the street ringing the cavern was filled with drunken revelers. I guessed that the eternal twilight meant that it was always 5 o’clock here.

The majority of people wore the shorts and vest that seemed to be the unofficial uniform of deckhands. A few rakish looking types with oversized hats and egos strutted down the street like peacocks. The girls on their arms laughed just loudly enough at every word they said to make me certain that money was changing hands.

I’m not a judgemental prude or anything, but I personally don’t go in for that sort of thing. I like to know a girl is having a good time and not just putting up with me for a payout.

While we waited, a large cage, pulled by an ox trundled past. Inside the cage, dirty, ragged-looking forms kept their eyes downcast. I had to bite my tongue to keep from blurting out some heroic crap and getting my head bashed in by the neanderthal of a guard following the cage on foot.

Okay, so I’m all for a woman's right to choose what to do with their body, but when it comes to slavery and likely sex-trafficking, I had a very different stance. Making a scene here and now wouldn’t accomplish anything. That didn’t mean that I was just going to let it slide either.

Dreams of grand adventure are all well and good, but this stinking display of human suffering just made things very uncomfortably real. When I became a heroic warrior and built up renown and connections, I’d use any influence I had to fight for freedom. If the leaders of the free city of Navarone weren’t able to see the irony in its name, I’d force them to see it or replace them with leaders with a touch more vision.

I was staring at the cage when Jerry came back.

“No sense pining over that lot.” He said cheerily. “They’re destined for the coliseum. You can tell from the brands.”

I felt my stomach turn sour. No matter what promises I made myself. I just watched them pass by without doing anything. They would most likely all be dead before I got around to my social justice crusade. I tried my best to tell myself that I didn’t make the current system and there was nothing I could do to change it yet. I wasn’t very convincing.

We brought the molasses into an out-building filled with barrels before a pair of sailors ran the cart back to the docks. The rest of us went inside the Hook & lantern. It was a dingy sort of place that seemed to rely more on dim lighting than regular cleaning to keep the grime at bay. I eagerly accepted the cup of harsh rum Jerry pushed into my hand.

I cheered with the rest of the sailors about the successful voyage but my mind was still with the caged wretches on their way to a colosseum. I kept accepting drinks from the sailors until I forgot about the unfortunate slaves. Apparently Jerry took one drink to mean one drink from every grateful sailor.

After four tall mugs of rum, I was nearly insensate, and the rum was nearly smooth. I can only remember flashes from that night, and I’d rather not share any of those embarrassing details. I’ll just say that the patrons were thoroughly entertained.