Remove Ads

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The Adventures of Finnegan o'Ferral #1
#1
The Adventures of Finnegan o'Ferral


Episode 1 : The Vabbian Venture


Part 1

"Please. Don't eat me!" I pleaded, as the net rocked forwards and backwards.

With my arms and feet dangling several meters above the fetid and bubbling surface of the the dark swamp, I despondently began to recall the confident words I had spoken earlier during our visit with Elder Hawan and the distinguished council of Chahbek village.  The job would be simple - I had reassured their venerable mayor - we would search the island of Istan, locate their stolen family heirloom and return it intact, whilst bringing those responsible for its sacrilegious theft to swift justice.

Initially I had declined the assignment.  We had just endured a lengthy sea voyage from Lion’s Arch with an assortment of Krytan made supplies and materials which had been requested by an order of Istan soldiers called the Sunspears, and I had been looking forward to getting home so that I could spend some of our well earned platinum on a decent night out in the seedy viaduct districts I knew so well.

Evette had also been quite eager to get back to Kryta, and had earlier reminded me that I had promised to take her for a trip to Bergen Hot Springs so she could enjoy a couple of days of relaxing, detoxifying and generally enjoying the company of the burly young masseurs that would be on hand to tenderize every tired joint in her body.

My reputation as a fine swashbuckling adventurer and, as of more recent times, a very reliable courier, had once again preceded me.  The village elders had approached us with a desperate call for help.  So desperate, in fact, that the tidy offer of fifteen platinum pieces, straight from the coffers of the Chahbek village hall, almost instantly managed to sway my opinion on our next destination.  Seeing as we were already here, I explained to the others, and Istan isn’t exactly the biggest island in the world, I managed to persuade my group that a small detour wouldn’t really take too long after all.  Of course the unwavering stare that I had received from Evette was only dispelled once I had also promised her that we would spend some of the extra money on an all-inclusive trip to one of Fisherman Haven’s more prestigious beach resorts.

Evette is my guide, a tall, dark-haired and lithe woman, with the most vibrant sky blue eyes outside of Cantha, and a lissome figure that is fashioned to the shape of a Denravian vine dancer.  She is also a very accomplished ranger, having learnt much of her scouting skills during an early career as a Kournan spotter.  She is naturally an observant woman, and is very adept at noticing things, which especially includes any errors or oversights on my part.

“This better not turn out to be another one of your usual gaffes, Finnegan!” she’d said, as we had walked inland through the fields on the outskirts of the village.

“It’s easy money!”  I’d protested charmingly, and then winked at her as she scowled and stormed off to scout the path ahead.

Despite that most recent insubordination, it was mainly thanks to Eve’s scouting skills that our search through the island had, in most parts, been fairly uneventful.  We managed to make great haste through the isle despite the occasional group of termites that scuttled towards us in search of supper, and the various clumps of foliage that suddenly sprang into life and shuffled towards us with the sort of ravenous hunger you would expect from a ten foot tall, carnivorous plant.

We eventually found ourselves at a rather remote camping ground called Blacktide Den which nestled on the edge of a dank and dreary swamp.  Being on the reaches of Istan civilization, it appeared that the less trustful types used this location as a welcome sanctuary, and Evette was quite eager to point out several groups of unsavory characters that apparently still had bounties on their heads within the jurisdiction of the Kournan Guard.  

This was where my other assistant, Abora, was also most helpful in the investigations that led me, ultimately, to my present predicament.  Like most elementalists, Abs is rather intelligent, and has a very useful repertoire of researched spells stored away in her self-righteous mind.  Despite the vast amount of memory she must draw upon when perfecting her magical art, she also manages to somehow retain the most enormous amount of knowledge about the various lands of Tyria, including an extensive education on almost every aspect of the people, the wilderness, the dangers, the languages and the overall history of each and every location that has ever been mapped by the world’s greatest grand master cartographer.  

It was Abs familiarity with the local dialect that had enabled us to stumble across a lead for the stolen jewelry we were searching for.  We had been sitting by a small open-aired stall which the locals called The Happy Harpy.  I was washing a spicy rinkhal stew down with a mug of ginger ale, when Abs had overhead a conversation amongst a small group of dirty ruffians to our left.  They had been mostly complaining about their recent gambling losses, she had told us afterwards, but they also happened to mention that a small group of corsair’s had passed through the settlement the night before we had arrived.  Whilst there is nothing remarkable about a band of corsairs frequenting a drop-out settlement like Blacktide Den to partake in a bit of gambling, it just so happened that one of their group had been heard bragging about a successful raid they had performed on a certain Chahbek Village.

Where as Evette had a slight edge on me when it came to our respective heights, Abora was a diminutive female who’s silver haired head only just about came up to my shoulder level.  Abs was always well presented in her clothes and makeup - her hairstyles seemed to change on an almost daily basis – and she often looked as if she should be gracing the halls of a Kaineng palace, rather than places such as an Istan back water dive hole.  Despite the bluish-grey color of her hair and the argent steel in her eyes, Abs was not much more than twenty years in age, which is quite incredible when you consider the fact that she has the entire contents of every Tyrian library stored away in that pretty little head of hers.

The corsairs had journeyed deeper into the nearby swamp called Lahtenda Bog.  We had set off immediately and spent the first few hours navigating our way around all manner of dripping ferns and needled thickets, sticking closely to the squelching mud paths that snaked haphazardly through the wetlands.  Abs hadn’t been impressed with it at all, and we had spent a considerable amount of time waiting as she changed from her flowing robes into something less likely to have their hem’s soiled by the ‘ikky stuff’ that was underfoot.

We set off again, and began to encounter a few too many insects that had decided to investigate our passing.  This didn't go down too well with the ladies, of course.  The strange undulating movement of the giant grubs seemed to generate a particularly disgusted expression on Eve, so I had promptly ensured that her safety, and her stomach contents, remained intact by heroically dispatching the bugs with my shimmering rapier.  It had all been over in seconds and I turned to receive their thanks with a knowing smile.

"When are you going to learn how to fight with a real sword?" Evette had asked bluntly.  Her look of disdain, that I thought had been reserved for the sentient larvae that had attacked us, was now directed at me.

I looked down at my slender sword with a pained expression of disappointment.  The rapier was simple, with a modest handguard made of dull copper and a length of iron that tapered to a blunt point.  The rapier had been in my possession for years and I liked the fact that it was light to wield and effortless to swipe, even if it is a fairly brittle antique with an edge that would stuggle to shred a tapestry.  Not that it had ever come into real contact with any armor in recent years, you see.  The physical merits of the weapon aren't so important when it comes to my legendary and elite swashbuckling skills.  It's the illusionary arts that I enchant into my weapon prior to combat that makes it such a powerful extension of my world-famous martial art abilities.  One swipe of that sword can penetrate the strongest, most impenetrable armor known to exist.  Yet Evette's words had somehow hurt my pride.

"I suppose it is time that I did invest in a more spectacular looking sword, to suit both my fighting and my fashion style," I agreed with a modest lift of one eyebrow.

Evette seemed to cough before turning away to look at Abora with, what I imagine was, a look of approval and admiration, although the resigned smirk that appeared on Ab's face may have suggested something otherwise.

What we hadn't bargained on, however, was that the latest skirmish with the insects had infact unknowingly alerted the interest of our original prey.  I recall that I had been in the process of discussing, with a distressed Abora, the profitable merits and details of salvaging the appendage remains from one of the bugs.  It was at that moment when we heard the deep rumbling shouts and alert orders coming from the dark overgrowth ahead.  Bursting through the thick vegetation, the same group of burly corsairs we had been tracking emerged with a battle-ready and particularly viscious looking agenda detailed on their hairy faces.  Their assortment of rusty machete's and oversized scimtars were poised before them like mangled machinery as they focused on us with sneering bloodlust.

I felt Abora attune herself to her magic to my right, and the familar creak of leather to my left also indicated that Evette had begun to ready her recurve bow, so it was clear that my leadership was now needed.  We had found our prey, the bounty was at hand and the final hour of our latest mission was approaching its end.  With my companions at my side, ready to react, I prepared myself to command the situation.  As the corsairs sprang forwards, I squeezed the handle of my rapier, balanced my stance and prepared to order my troops.

"RUN!" I squealed.  "Run for your lives!"  I swiftly turned on my heels in the squelching mud and sprinted past the surprised forms of Evette and Abora as I sought the cover of the bushes and trees behind us.  It was clearly the most logical thing to do.  We were outnumbered by a half dozen brutes, and I couldn't risk the chance of my lovely companions being captured and subjecting to this mob of uncouth pirates.  It was our only choice.  We had to flee, if only for the safety of the ladies.

"Finnegan!"  I heard Evette's panicked scream as I pushed the damp wet leaves of the overhanging trees aside in my flight.  There was the faint sound of an explosion behind me, accompanied by a chorus of deep screams, followed by the twanging sound of a bowstring.  Good, I thought, the ladies are slowing them down as we escape.

It was around five minutes later, as I slowed my pace with the burning in my lungs reaching an unbearable strain, that I realised Evette and Abora were not behind me.  I bent over, one hand placed on the winded pain at my side caused by the sprint, as I gulped at the moist air and panned around to view my surroundings.  I had no idea where I was, but I knew I had to rescue the girls, if it took me all night.  They needed me.  I feared for then and slowly started to make my way back.

A few moments later the smell of smoked meat caught my attention and I wondered if I had found the corsair's campsite.  I silently mouthed a prayer that the girls had come to no harm and I slowly approached the clearing in the fading light.  I saw the small fire in the centre of the area and slowly edged through the long wet weeds to get a closer perspective on the surroundings.  It was then that I realised this was no firepit, but the burning body of a corsair, his body incinerated by flames.  The same smell that had created a feeling of hunger in my stomach moments earlier now generated a feeling of nausea as I identified its source.  But the moment of disgust and curiousity faded instantly as I caught site of the piece of jewelry that had fallen from the pirates belt pouch nearby.

I knelt down and lifted the beautiful pendant before me.  It appeared to be made of three rubies, one small, one medium and one large, locked together into a small teardrop so that the smallest gemstone sat at the top, whilst the largest shone at the bottom.  I imagined how beautiful it would look if rested magnificently within the bosom of a courtly lady.  Or even Evette's.

"Hey!  There's one of 'em.  Roll him in boys!"

I leaped up from where I perched, clasping the heirloom to see three of the corsairs appear, pointing at me.

"Oh crap it," I cursed and promptly ran for my life.  I quickly turned to see that one of the brutes was preparing to throw a mesh of rope at me and I knew that I was in dire trouble.  I looked at the set of gems in my hand and felt such sadness.  Something this beautiful couldn't end up at the bottom of a corsairs treasure pile.  It just wasn't fair.

Plus, I really needed that reward if we were going to sail back to Lion's Arch in comfort and bliss.  I needed to do something drastic, and as a thought came to me, I gulped.

The net landed on me with a surprising amount of weight and I slammed to the floor, winded and gasping for air.  I tried vainly to free myself, scrambling towards the edge of the net that never seemed to appear within reach.  Before I could escape I felt the entire mesh shift as the laughing corasairs grabbed the ends of the bundle and lift me up into the air.

"Well look at what we have got here, my bruvvers," smiled one of them in a thick Kournan accent, a gold tooth poking from behind his scruffy facial hair.  The three men continued to hoist me up despite my brave efforts to escape, as they suspended the net from one of the stronger limbs of an overhanging tree.  They backed off to look at me from a slight distance.

"Please.  Don't eat me,"  I pleaded, as the net rocked forwards and backwards.

"Hehehe," chuckled one of the corsais, as the others laughed beside him.  "We's ain't gonna eats you, weasel.  But unless you hand over that nice little trinket you just stole, we sure as are gonna take a look at those 'orrible guts you got inside you."  The pirate lifted his machete and stabbed briefly at my suspended form through the fibres of the net.

"Oww.  No.  Please.  I don't know what your talking about."

Another corsair, who was wearing a looped serpentine wrap ontop of his head, approached and began to search through my pockets and beltpouches.

"Please.  No.  Nooo..not there you pervert!"  I screamed as he fondled through every crevasse and fold in my clothes.  I felt so...manhandled.

"He don't have it."  The turban-headed corsair snarled.

"He must have.  I saw him with it," replied the gold-toothed pirate.

"Lets gut him open anyway," squealed the third pirate, a muscular but diminutive bald chap who brandished the most riduculously oversized scimitar I had ever seen.

Before I could think of a way to parlay myself out of this predicament, a huge fireball sailed through the air, lighting up the entire area and smashing into the backs of the three vagabonds.  Flailing and screaming in pain, the trio of pirates turned towards the source of the infernal magic just as a barrage of maplewood arrows flew from the edges of the treeline and buried themselves into their bodies.  I looked up with great relief as Evette appeared brandishing her bow and Abora materialised swathed in magical faerie fire.  One of the corsairs plunged into the swampy grime with an arrow embedded into his eye whilst another incenerated as he stood.  The last tried to escape but a timely shaft of wood from Evette's bow cemented his leg to the marsh.  Unable to escape, Abora summoned a bed of fire to appear around the pirate, roasting him alive as he tried to free himself from the crippling snare.

"Good job ladies," I congratulated them.  "Great team effort."

Evette approached me with a look of comedy on her face.  "Looks like you got yourself in a right tangle, Finny."

"All part of the master plan," I smiled.  "I got the heirloom."

"And you were planning on returning it whilst trapped in a net surrounded by corsairs?" she laughed.

"Just get me down from here," I smiled.  "And we can go get our reward."

"Let me see it."  Evette was challenging me, challenging my leadership and questioning my honesty.

"What?"  I tested her patience.

"If you had this situation so under control, where is the heirloom?  I've been dying to see it.  Maybe its worth more than the reward."

"Evette!" I mocked an expression of shock.  "Where's your honor?"

"It died long ago and you know it.  C'mon Finny, where is it?  That heirloom must be beautiful if its worth 'all' this effort."

"I ... I can't show it to you right now."

Evette smirked and turned to look at Abora who was also just as happy to enjoy this moment of helplessness I was entangled in.  "You don't have it at all do you?" the female ranger mocked.

"Yes I do.  Now get me down from here."

"I'll cut you down if you show me the heirloom."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because I swallowed it!"

There was a moment of silence as Abora's jaw dropped and Evette's eyes sprang wide with surprise.  "You did what!!?"

"I swallowed it," I repeated meekly.  "I couldn't face them pirates getting their mucky hands on the thing.  It was the only thing I could do."

"That's gross!" wailed Evette.  "Oh my god Finnegan.  This is insane.  You have us find the mayoral heirloom of Chahbek, the most beautiful pendant in all of Istan, worth a tidy reward of fifteen platinum pieces to whoever finds it and returns it to the village, and .... its currently residing in your stomach?"

"Yup!" I smiled, pleased with my quick thinking.

"We're screwed," Evette's shoulders slumped in complete, overwhelmed desperation.

"No," I corrected.  "We're rich!"

Evette's face bleached.  "It'll take days for you to crap that thing out, 'if' you ever do,"  she cried.  "And even then, that necklace is going to stink!  If we return whatever it is that is going to come out of your other end, we'll be lucky to be escorted off the island, but much more likely to go in the village stocks for a week."

"Don't be silly.  And just get me out of this net!"  I replied.

Evette continued to sob.  "Maybe its best we just run and get whatever price we can," she cried, thinking out loud.

"Evette!  Seriously! Get me down from here now!  I really need to get down!"

"Why should I?" she laughed back.  "You always get us into a great big mess.  Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just leave you hanging here?"

"Because...!"  I cried back at her, shaking the net madly.  I began to sweat with panic.  "Because I think we may get that reward sooner than you think."

Both Evette and Abora looked at me puzzled, wondering what I meant.

With my face pressed up against the rope, and a hint of pink reaching my cheeks, I replied, "I think that rinkhal stew just disagreed with me."

Reply


Messages In This Thread
The Adventures of Finnegan o'Ferral #1 - by Finn Ferral - 01-22-2008, 10:10 PM

Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  The Adventures of Indigo Montari- Beyond The Shadow Indigo 12 632 02-25-2008, 02:41 AM
Last Post: Indigo

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)