I had enough strips and pieces of leather to craft a simple saddle that would securely hold the skull while still allowing his jaw to move. I was excited to show Hubert the solution I made for him, but I was expecting a little bit of pushback based on the fact that I was presenting him with a turtle-based mount.

As we walked over to the barn where Hubert was I talked the turtle through the naming process. He liked Shelldon so that was his new name. We walked into the barn and Hubert just happened to be looking our way. He was the first to address the turtle in the room.

"Be this a jest?" His teeth clacked angrily as he spoke.

"Just give him a trial run. He may just surprise you," I said.

I placed Hubert on Shelldon's back and strapped him into his special saddle.

"Give it a good test, Shelldon. Run around a bit and maybe even go up and down a wall." I pointed around the room haphazardly and the turtle took off. He zipped around the room and even scaled a wall. The straps held securely and Hubert even sounded like he was having fun as the ride came to a complete stop.

"Ha-harr. That be quite the steed. His speed'll surely belay any jesting tongues," Hubert said having clearly enjoyed the ride.

"Are you pretty tight on there? Do I need to make any adjustments?" I asked bending down to check the straps.

"No lad. It be cinched up tight like unto a platter," He said. I assumed that meant it was tight enough.

"Shelldon, just stick with me and I'll make sure you get some good snacks with good friends." The turtle came over to my leg and rubbed his head on it much as a cat would.

"Have done with that steed," Hubert obviously didn't appreciate Shelldon's softness towards me, but I thought the little guy was adorable so I ignored the bonehead.

We need to head out if we want to make it to Bettyford by nightfall I said to Barry and the rest of the gang. Once again the wolves, Honey, and Mr. Snuggles chose to stay in Roseglen. I think those animals were more at home here than they have been anywhere else so I couldn't blame them. Barry had already prepared the horse cart for the trip so we could leave immediately. As we rode to the center of Roseglen we were able to wave goodbye to all of the townsfolk we passed by. The town baker even tossed me a few loaves of bread for the trip.

We stopped and said goodbye to Shamus and Nina and I let them know that I probably wouldn't be able to return for a while. They were a little sad but knew the trip had a good reason behind it.

"We've had a strange journey together, Theodore, but I am grateful that you came into our lives. Good luck on your trip," said Shamus.

As we left town I thought about how peculiar this group was. We were two humans, a skull strapped to a magic turtle, a big gray bird that could talk, a penguin, and a squirrel. We were all sitting in the cart that was being pulled by a large horse. I had tried talking to the horse but he was all business.

We traveled for hours and made it safely to Bettyford. We still had a little daylight by the time we pulled into the Southern gate. A town guard took the cart and parked it promising to care for the horse. We went to the town square and knocked on the front door of the town hall building. Roderic came to the door.

"Welcome, Theodore. Do you need a place to stay for the night?" He asked.

"Yes, please. We had a long day of traveling but I'd love to catch you up in the morning," I said.

"That sounds great," said the mayor. He led us to a guest room and we slept for the night.

I was the last one up and walked out of the room looking for another person or animal. Roderic was in the main hall and greeted me.

"Good morning," he said. "How did you sleep?"

"Too well apparently. Where is everyone?" I didn't see any sign of my companions.

"They all went out to the markets to look around. We've done a lot since you've been gone," He said excitedly.

"I might just go find them. I think the plan is to head North pretty quick to try and find a pirate crew to join," I said.

"Join?" He asked.

"Well, pretend to join. The idea is to be accepted onto a crew then gather information and figure out a way to destroy the pirates from the inside," I explained.

"That sounds pretty dangerous, but I guess not any more dangerous than just going out and starting to attack pirate ships head-on," he said. "Go locate your friends."

I got out into the courtyard and spent a little while looking around the shops in the square until I found Barry. He was talking to Smith who saw me and waved me over.

"Smith! It is so good to see you." I did the little forearm grab maneuver with him and he clapped me on the shoulder.

"I have a few surprises for you," he said as he pulled out a leather pouch and a bundle of arrow shafts. "I made you something." He handed me the bundle of arrow shafts and none of them had arrowheads on them. Then, he handed over the pouch and I opened it to find screw-on arrowheads. They weren't standard though as they had metal bits that clamped down when they hit something. I could think of quite a few different ways to utilize these.

"Thank you, Smith. These are great." I popped all of it into my inventory. I bowed and took my leave. We spent a little while finishing up looking around the shops. I ended up trading away the rest of my Fireball scrolls since I wouldn't be needing them anymore. I got some lengths of thin cord and thicker rope, some crackers with nuts and seeds in them for energy, and a bunch of veggies for Shelldon to munch on.

I spoke with Barry and we decided to try to make it up North today. We found Jen and spent some time getting her all caught up. She of course wanted in on our plan, but we convinced her to stay in Bettyford and spend more time with her parents. We said our goodbyes and headed out of town.

I asked Pips to stay either in the forest or with Jen before we left and we asked Roderic to find a driver to return with the cart and resume trade with Roseglen. We were back down to a party of five, six if you counted the skull, and headed North to the closest port. It wasn't more than an hour away so we arrived there in the early afternoon.

It was a small port with a docking and unloading area on the water and one large building that appeared to be an inn and restaurant type of establishment.

We didn't see any ships docked so we went into the inn and spoke with the innkeeper. I let Barry do the talking and we started the act.

"We would like a room for a few nights," he said to the portly man.

I had given him a few items with value that I would miss and said he could trade them away for the room and board. He finished the transaction and ended up having to trade away all of the items I had given to him. It was fine as I wasn't overly attached to any of it and I figured that it might happen.

"Do you know of any crews that be looking for any fresh recruits? We are looking to join a crew and set sail," said Barry. He was doing a great job.

"There is a ship that docks about once a week for a warm meal and a cold drink. They should arrive in a day or two. I would ask them," he said as he handed us a bowl of mealy porridge. I never thought I would be wishing to have that stew that we had gotten in Wolfhill back again.

"Thank ye," said Barry. I nodded at the innkeeper in appreciation.

Sure enough, not two days later the ship docked and some of the crew headed into the inn.

"Are ye looking for any fresh recruits that will work cheap and hard?" He asked.

One of them answered in the affirmative and the other in the negative. They may have already been a little tipsy so a new plan was formed. We let them keep drinking and then carried them back to their ship.

"Ho there!" Barry called out to the other men on board. "I brought yer men back to ye."

A couple of men walked over and took the fools below decks whispering something and it didn't sound like a happy whisper.

A regal-looking man stepped out from a doorway that the men had passed. "State yer business!" He said gruffly.

Barry explained that we were looking for work and gave him a bribe consisting of one of the fancy throwing knives that I still hadn't used but had seen less utility in. He accepted it and waved us in.

"Stop aboard," he said which from context seemed to mean welcome. We might get the crappier jobs on deck, but at least we were communicating and possibly getting somewhere.

"Thank ye, sir," said Barry. We stepped about and the first phase of our plan was complete. The only problem was that that had been the easy part.