I am in bed, but I can’t sleep.

All I can think about is those gunshots in the distance & my dear Dio, on the shore, with O’Connel & two other men. It is too dark to go after him, though with all of my heart I want to! I’m helpless! How could I sleep!? My heart is racing & my hands are shaking. What if something happened to him? What would I do??

Oh, but this is just a small part of the misadventures that have befallen my ship since setting sail from Puerto Del Sur. Half of my men are dead & my ship is injured. I have made a dangerous enemy & someone is quite aware of my identity!

The trip started well. 

I delegated the title of "Midshipman" to my loyal & exceptional sailor, O’Connel, along with a ½ share raise in pay & I asked Serpente to teach me Castillian- for when I meet my Bandit again. I spent much of my days learning the language & most of my nights dreaming, remembering, wishing & planning. During this quiet time, I began to notice things misplaced in my room- drawers ajar, papers moved, etc. The first couple of times, I brushed it off, but finally I had a guard placed at my door at all hours. It became obvious that I had a curious intruder.

One night shortly after assigning my guard, I was woken by a pounding on my door- I was wanted on decks. So, I hurriedly threw on my clothes & ran up- to find a murdered man. It was easy to tell that he had been stabbed to death. I asked if anyone had witnessed anything, but nobody came forward. I ordered a full bunk check & called the Doctor to prepare the slain sailor for burial.

At one point, while delegating orders, I noticed a strange form on the deck. I pointed it out to Serpente & we went to investigate. It was a bloodstained handkerchief of black lace. The initials M.V. were embroidered into it with golden thread. It looked to be very Montaigne in style. Immediately I ordered all men with those initials brought to me, but there were none.Serpente & I discussed this, along with the likelihood of someone on board going under an alias (but he & I wouldn’t know anything about that, of course). 

I decided to check out my room, just to be safe. It would have been easier, in all of this confusion, for someone to sneak in. My guard said that no one had entered, but I looked all over (I mean all over) inside to make sure everything was still in place. While on my knees, I noticed something strange under my desk. Upon further inspection, there was no doubt;  it was a single bloody footprint! 

It was then that everything came together. How could someone enter a guarded room without being seen? It could be done, but only a Montaigne Noble could do it…

I sat down with an exasperated sigh. There was absolutely no doubt that our intruder now knew who I was & I had no doubt that he would share that information, but with whom? Who sent him? My family perhaps? I had to tell Serpente & let the other officers know what was going on, so after throwing out the dirty water & dropping the bucket off in the kitchen, I called all of my henchmen to the aftcastle.

Once there, I let Serpente know that there were "things we need to share in private", & then I broke the news of the Porte Sorcerer to the rest of the men. O’Connel, newly allowed into our meetings, spoke up- reminding us that practitioners of Porte have their hands permanently stained red with blood & perhaps it would be prudent to have all of our Montaigne sailors show us their hands. In all of my frustration I hadn’t thought of it, but he was right! I commended him for bringing it up & ordered it so post haste.

Before long, six men stood before me.

I asked them to remove their gloves & began to look them over... especially the first one. We must have just taken him on at port, because I certainly would have remembered him! He was quite fetching for a Montaigne & exceptionally good looking for a common sailor! I caressed his hands a bit as I inspected them & commented on how beautiful they are before letting him go. Since then, I have made certain that he is the only one who serves me breakfast, lunch, & drinks. I’m sure by now he may be wondering about it, but I am enjoying looking at him every day.

Anyway, I had glanced over half of their hands when I heard "Sail Ho!"

Before anyone could move, he had jumped through the hole, it closed into a bloody slit & vanished altogether. "Well, Men," I said to the remaining sailors in the lineup, "I guess you know now what we were looking for."

Understandably, they & the rest of the crew were a bit pale & awestruck. Even though I had witnessed & experienced that magic several times as a child, it had never grown less disturbing.

I glanced over the last of the hands, just to be safe, & dismissed the sailors.

Once they had left, I asked The Quartermaster if he knew who the man was. He replied that he had been known as Marcell DuPaix. Without thinking I exclaimed, "DuPaix! Of course!" (It is relatively well known, in certain circles, that Montaigne nobles in hiding often go by the surname DuPaix, as do I.) I realized my slip immediately, but I wonder who else caught it. Serpente certainly had!

After that blunder, I chose to remove myself from the moment & invited Serpente to my quarters for the aforementioned private chat.

 We sat on opposite sides of my desk & I took his hand between mine. I told him about the missing pages of my journal. He shared my concerns & did his best to comfort me about it- trying to see the "best" of the worst that could happen. We talked about the whole situation for awhile before returning on deck.

We could see the other ship quite well through a spyglass now. She flew a Vodacce flag, but I still couldn’t make out the second, lower, provincial flag.

I was thinking a lot as I was watching the ship in the distance & suddenly, I was hit with another revelation. I took Serpente aside to share my new ideas & suspicions about our Vendel patron. He had seemed to know a lot more about me than he let on & we had taken the Porte Sorcerer spy on board at port. It seemed likely to me that he may have been getting information on me- proof, as insurance perhaps. After all, the artifacts are worth far more than what we are being paid to retrieve them. Maybe, just maybe, that man was his "little birdie". 

I decided then & there, with a little encouragement from Serpente, that I would ask for more money before delivering the goods. Of course, at this point, I don’t believe that he could ever pay enough to make up for all of my losses- especially if anything has happened to Serpente. If it has, I swear by Theus I will take out the price in his blood!

Anyway, the Vodacce ship sailed parallel to us for days & days. Finally, I decided to have a closer look so we moved in towards her a bit. A twinge of trepidation struck me when I finally was able to make out their other flag. It was the flag of Villanova! Giovanni Villanova- only the most feared & most powerful of the Vodacce Merchant Princes! This was certainly unexpected!

While they made no moves towards us for several more days, the time eventually came. They moved towards fast & furious now. I had my ship cut in front of it, my cannons facing them, but I wanted to be absolutely certain their intentions were hostile before opening fire. My mistake.

They made a sharp turn & now side-by-side, attempted to board us. They threw hooks over, but my men were able to cut their ropes & fight them of, at the loss of six of our own.  I then ordered a strategic maneuver, circling them & firing. Erik’s shots were true & deadly. We hit them again & again, from all sides, but in the process, they hit our tail end, damaging our rudder & making circling nearly impossible.

They tried to board us twice more & we fought them off each time, but when I realized what bad shape they were in I decided that we would board them. After our ships were hooked together, my men & I killed off those who tried to board us & climbed over.

The battle from there in was easy. I fought alongside my men until most of their crew had been dispatched. Finally, Captain Vito was brought up deck, my men holding his arms securely behind his back.

I approached & placed the bloody tip of my rapier on his throat. I asked him why he attacked us. He insisted that we attacked him first, but I reminded him of the correct order of things & asked my question again. He refused to answer. I smirked now, as I slid my sword’s tip slowly down his body & pressed it into his crotch with a slight twist. He winced. "Some men have things that they value more than their own necks." I said. At that point (pun intended), he confessed that he had been commissioned by Giovanni Villanova to make sure that no other ship reaches Mondavi Island, which was our destination. "Well, your mission has failed." I stated triumphantly. I then asked him if he would like the long boat now for he & the four other survivors, to which he replied, "If you would be so kind."

As I walked them to the long boat, he grumbled about how his boss would not be happy about this. I smiled & said, "Yes, by the way, tell Senior Villanova ‘hello’ for me." He replied that he would certainly convey the message- using a courier. After all, one does not want to be the one to break it to the cruelest man in Vodacce that his ship was taken by pirates!

After sending them off, my men & I raided their hold for food & supplies. There was actually quite a lot, considering how much larger their ship was than ours. The greatest find, of course, was the cases & cases of Vodacce wine & ale, which I ordered broken open in celebration as soon as we had returned. Their vessel was quite damaged & of no use to us, so I ordered it scuttled.

My own ship now limped forward to our destination. A full third of my crew had died during the battle & we held a mass funeral as the sun set that evening. As if all of this wasn’t enough, more disaster was still to befall us.

Sure, we reached the island & Le Misadventur without incident, but we would find that loading the crates, which contained the artifacts, would not be easy. Serpente, O’Connel, my guard & myself rowed out to the ship. I cannot swim & the hold was filled with water, so I stayed in the longboat & prepared to help them when they returned. Before long, I heard a scuffle & screams.

Soon after, Serpente & O’Connel returned... without the other. They informed me that the hold was full of razor-toothed sirens that had attacked them. As they spoke, I could hear their feeding squeals echoing through the cargo hold. I felt ill knowing that they were, at this moment, feasting on one of my men, & a damn fine sailor & guard at that!

After that experience, we all agreed that we should bring more & more well armed men in the morning to clean them out. Which is exactly what we did.

This time Erik, Serpente, O’Connel, six other sailors & myself, took the long boat. On the way, O’Connel informed me that the water in the hold was only chest high, so I agreed to enter with them. When we arrived, I tied the longboat to the ship & we slowly filed inside, holding our pistols up so as to avoid wetting our powder.

Several times I would see movement in the water, but never anything I could fire at. My heart was in my throat & my skin crawled, knowing that any second the creatures could latch on to any of us... and they did.

I watched two of my men drop & the water turn red where they had once stood. One of them jumped out of the water & lunged at me- to be stopped short by a bullet in the head, courtesy of my gunner. I turned to him with praise & an order not to die on this mission. I knew that with his amazing skills, he was the perfect man to bring, but he is a precious commodity; a great asset to myself & my ship- I don’t want to lose him.

Another siren popped up, & I fired, but missed her entirely. My pistol was useless now, so I tossed it aside & took out my rapier & main gauche. I caught a glimpse of the crates & had the men follow me to them. For the moment, the sirens had backed off.

The crates were absolutely huge! There were 4 of them, but one had been broken open & the artifacts were strewn about the beach. With a "watch my back", I put away my sword & began to rope them up the crates. As soon as I finished, I heard a barrage of loud squeals behind me.

Once there, Serpente suggested that he & a few of the men make camp on the beach while I return to the ship. Even then I was filled with concern. He said that his group could gather the artifacts from the shore & have them ready for our return in the morning. His plan made sense, as the long boat could not fit us all along with all other crates & it was too dark to make several trips. I put my hand on his cheek & made him promise to take care. He put his hand on mine & promised, but I still worried. I had Erik join me in the longboat & we alone returned to The Scarlet Lady.

One crate was on board.

I gazed over the edge of the ship & watched Serpente’s campfire in the distance. While there, I asked for my Montaigne sailor & had him bring me food & drink. I was quite hungry after the long & exhausting day. Well, it was also quite nice to have an attractive man to look at, after watching dying ones.

I stayed there until the fire on the shore died out, leaving glowing red coals. Having grown very sleepy, I finally decided to go to bed. About three steps down, I heard several gunshots ring through the air!  There was a sharp pain in my gut & my heart ached. I raced back upstairs with my hand to my middle. Most of my men were already there, peering over the edge into the darkness. I stood between Erik & Olaf struggling to see anything, but it was no use.

I wrapped my hand around my large Vesten boson’s thumb & Serpente’s name escaped my lips. Olaf looked down at me with concern in his eyes & mine welled up with tears. I tried to choke it down, but there was just too much overflow. Little tears streamed down my cheeks & stung my eyes. Erik spoke now in an unusually comforting tone; "I’ll gather men together, loaded with weapons. We’ll take a team out there right away in the morning." I looked up at him & stammered that it must happen at dawn. He nodded & said, "At the very break of dawn it will be done." At that point Olaf suggested that I get as much rest as possible, being that tomorrow is sure to be a long & hard day. I nodded & unable to hold back my tears anymore, I turned off to bed.

And here I am lying in bed, wide awake, somewhere between a crying fit & a panic attack, worried sick about my dear Dio. What would I do without him!? He is my partner, my dearest friend, my most loyal confidant, the only person who truly knows me & the only person I truly love in the whole world! Our whole time together is flashing before me, from the first day when I was taken kicking & screaming onto Hick’s ship to this evening when I bade him farewell. Oh, my Dio… if there is a Theus, may he keep you well. I need you.