Sophie Turner was seated on the bench of a small boat provided by the Adventure’s Guild. She had both Ralph and Jeremiah with her. The small fishing vessel they were on had one mast with one sail. There were fishing nets strung about the rigging and enough room for ten people to move around comfortably. The skies were overcast letting everyone know that the rain was stopped but not gone. In the distance they could still hear some thunder rumbling. Jeremiah was running about the ship working the ropes and generally being helpful.

“That lad is a natural sailor. Where did you say you found him?” asked the captain of the ship.

“He actually found us, near the main road to the city. Washed in from the ocean if you can believe that. Like one of those old fairy tales about the sea,” answered Ralph.

“Those tales be ending poorly more time than not,” replied the Captain as he leaned back over the wheel.

“Funny you should mention that. We hope to actually prevent a tragedy,” Sophie interjected.

“It’ll be a few hours traveling the shallows to make it near Croks Landing. I wouldn’t say it’s a coastal town since it’s several hours inland, but we can get you there. You say the rest of your party will meet us at the beach?” asked the Captain.

“That’s the idea. Although with Deacon, things rarely go the way you plan them,” quipped Ralph.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that actually. The Regulators squad could use a dedicated leader. You’d think by default it should be Deacon being the champion of Chimera and all. But I think it should be you. You showed a lot of leadership potential during the defense against the Goblins. From what I know of Deacon, I doubt he would mind. You don’t have to answer me now, just think about until I talk to Deacon,” said Sophie as the boat started rock from the waves.

“Winds picking up. We should cut sails and drop anchor for a bit. This close to shore we could be slammed into jetty by an errant gust. This could take a bit longer than I estimated,” commented the Captain.

Sophie looked away from the miles of beaches and out towards the ocean. The sky was turning black with roiling clouds. Waves seemed to be growing in frequency as a curtain of rain could be seen in the distance. She looked even closer noticing something odd. It looked like rain at a glance, but it wasn’t moving. The sight gave her the chills as it the curtain portion looked to be moving closer to shore, but the rain wasn’t moving from the clouds to the water. It seemed more like a still image or a painting of rain. Suddenly there was a shining flash in the image that last a second before a geyser of water erupted from the ocean nearby.

“Cannon fire, all hands, all hands, make for the shore!” ordered the Captain.

“Sir, we just dropped anchor. We’ll need to winch it back up,” called out one of the sailors.

“No time, release! I’ll not have my ship ransacked again,” hollered the Captain.

Just as the captain gave the order a curtain of light appeared in the mosaic of rain. It spread apart revealing a large ship with cannon emplacements on the bow. It was flying the Sharkfin flag. Once revealed Jeremiah stood motionless, the corners of his mouth angled down in a frown. He recognized that ship, the ship he was held captive on for years.

“Jeremiah, what’s wrong?” asked Sophie as she got up and put her hands on his shoulders.

“We have to run. They are slavers,” said Jeremiah.

“Sharkfin privateers! Beach the ship,” the Captain called out.

Deacon and the others emerged from his portal back into the cemetery just outside of Croks Landing. The skies were dark this far east and he could smell the ocean again. That briny smell that reminded him of family trips to the jersey shore in his past life. Deacon was always partial to the crème de mint soft ice cream that could be found on the boardwalk. He guessed that’s why Alfred built him his very own. This day dreaming did little to calm his anger. There were two of them. Deacon wondered if he was facing an agent smith situation. His arm was still sore, and he didn’t know if he had full use of it yet.

“We really monkey wrenched Efimeo, huh?” asked Tantus as he swung his new staff around his body.

“That’s not how the term is used…you know what sure,” Deacon said as he looked in the direction of the town.

“Pretty grim use of their bodies back there or it couldn’t have happened to a nicer pair. You choose,” commented Hani as he began to skip alongside Deacon.

“Not funny. This is a problem. I didn’t sense any souls in those bodies. I’m not even sure how many of them there are, and he can fly. Where do they keep getting these weapons? This is a complete shit show,” complained Deacon.

“It’s not a total loss. When he first approached me, he made it clear he was working with Elder Ruby. I know she’s in this city. I just fucking know it,” added Amanda as they all exited the graveyard and started down the path back to Croks Landing.

“Find Ruby, find Efimeo. Maybe we can beat some answers out of her about him. There must be some way to stop him,” mused Deacon as he slipped his hands into the kangaroo pocket of his hoody.

“Typhus wasn’t there, and neither were his prisoners. Isn’t that odd? It was only a day ago. Portal travel really messes with your head,” said Hani while scratching under his hat.

“He probably turned them in to the local authorities. These are his lands. He’d know what was best to do with them. Besides, they were dicks anyway,” replied Deacon as they entered Croks Landing proper.

No sooner did they arrive in the little hamlet did the skies open. It began to rain even harder than the last time they were there. Each footfall was met with the squelch of muddy ground. The only one who wasn’t getting his feet stuck in the mud was Deacon. It seemed the enchantment on his sandals let him stand even on small puddles of water.

That made him stop and think for a minute as the rain drops passed through his incorporeal body. If there was enough rain the air, could he just use the drops like stairs? The others made it to the door of the tavern, but Deacon just stood out in the road.

“Are you coming?” Tantus yelled back.

“Gimme a second,” said Deacon as he waived him off.

Deacon activated Spectral Jump and went straight up into the air. He soared over the mostly one story houses of this town upon activation. Once the power ended and he began his decent, Deacon stamped down with his right foot and felt a slight resistance. He quickly began pedaling his legs like Luigi as he fell. He managed to get one foothold before it disappeared as the droplets of water continued to fall. Deacon hadn’t fallen to the ground yet, but it was like trying to walk on vape smoke. Then finally he managed to get both feet to stop in midair.

That’s when Deacon discovered the problem. It was his intangibility. He was trying to force an item he was keeping permeable with his power to make solid contact with the very thing he was trying to stand on. It was different from standing water on the ground or the ground itself. There were no breaks in them normally, so his intangibility wasn’t a factor. Now he was trying to balance the that racial ability with the enchantment on the sandals. The two effects were opposing each other.

Now he was soaked through with the rain, but he had managed to hop back and forth in the air without ever touching the ground. He would need practice this as he’s become accustomed to using his racial ability. Maybe he could get Alfred to step an obstacle course for him. Below him Hani and Tantus were out in the street again looking around for him under Tantus’s shield. Deacon decided to give them a scare and land right on the shield.

“Where do you think he went?” Tantus asked Hani.

“No idea, he was just out here a second ago,” responded the jester as Deacon landed atop Tantus’s shield.

“Surprise!” Deacon yelled.

Hani used a telekinetic push reflexively that launched Deacon back and on the roof of a nearby building. Deacon was unsteady on his feet since Cat’s Grace ensured he would land that way. Unfortunately, he was still corporeal, and the rain was running off the thatched and stone roof. It dragged him along with the flow of water down to the ground before Deacon’s could write himself internally. This ended with Deacon standing upright on a waterlogged pig trough. The pigs looked up at him and practically shrugged their shoulders before going back to drinking out of the trough.